After months of uncertainty, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, travelling in the SpaceX Dragon capsule, successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday to bring back Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who had been stuck there since June 2024.
The NASA-SpaceX mission safely reached orbit, after it was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. This mission is significant as it marks the first human spaceflight to launch from Space Launch Complex-40.
The statement was signed at the NASA headquarters in Washington, DC, on the occasion of talks held between KASA chief Yoon Young-bin and NASA Administrator Bill Nelson in the US capital.
Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams has celebrated her 59th birthday -- the second in space.
NASA Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Willmore expressed their desire to vote in the upcoming US presidential elections in November
Since none of these super-Earths or mini-Neptunes exist within our solar system, scientists struggle to determine whether their atmospheres contain ammonia and other potential signs of living things.
The mission is the second of the six certified, crew missions NASA, and SpaceX will fly as a part of the agency`s Commercial Crew Programme. Crew-1 successfully docked into the ISS in November, last year.
"This goal aligns with President Biden's commitment to pursue a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all," said the US space agency.
Launched 20 years ago on April 7, the orbiter, which takes its name from Arthur C. Clarke's classic sci-fi novel "2001: A Space Odyssey", was sent to map the composition of the Martian surface, providing a window to the past so scientists could piece together how the planet evolved.
"#MarsHelicopter touchdown confirmed! Its 293 million mile (471 million km) journey aboard @NASAPersevere ended with the final drop of 4 inches (10 cm) from the rover's belly to the surface of Mars today," NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, tweeted late on Saturday.
