SpaceX Crew Dragon docked with the International Space Station (ISS) and opened the hatch to reach astronauts who have been stranded for more than nine months, AFP reports.

The Crew Dragon astronauts were shown live on television hugging and greeting their colleagues in zero gravity on the space station shortly after 07:45 GMT.

Butch Wilmore and Sunny Williams have been stranded aboard the orbiting lab since June after the Boeing Starliner spacecraft they were testing during their first crewed trip developed propulsion problems and was deemed unfit to return them to Earth.

What was supposed to be a several-day round trip for Wilmore and Williams dragged on for nine months.

That's considerably longer than the standard rotation for astronauts on the ISS, which is about six months.

But it is much shorter than the American space record of 371 days set by NASA astronaut Frank Rubio aboard the ISS in 2023, or the world record of Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov, who spent 437 days uninterrupted aboard the Mir space station.

However, the two's unexpected extended stay away from their families, during which they had to obtain extra clothing and personal hygiene products, has sparked interest and sympathy. | BGNES