A SpaceX capsule has docked at the International Space Station to bring back two stranded astronauts next year.

The launch from Cape Canaveral Space Center in Florida on Saturday delivered a Crew Dragon spacecraft to the ISS, where Nasa astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams have been stranded since their Boeing Starliner craft malfunctioned and was forced to return to Earth empty earlier this month.

Because NASA rotates space station crews approximately every six months, this newly launched flight with two empty seats reserved for Wilmore and Williams won’t return until late February. Officials said there wasn’t a way to bring them back earlier on SpaceX without interrupting other scheduled missions.

A SpaceX crew on a rescue mission have arrived at the International Space Station, but it will still be some time before stranded Boeing Starliner astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams can return back to Earth.

By the time Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams return to Earth they will have logged more than eight months in space. Their original mission was due to last for a week.

The Falcon 9 is temporarily grounded after an anomaly was detected following the launch of a Dragon capsule to the International Space Station. View on euronews