New York, March 16 (NationPress) SpaceX's Crew-10 mission has successfully docked at the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday, paving the way for the return of two NASA astronauts -- Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore -- who have been orbiting for several months.

The space capsule, launched from Texas on Friday, reached the ISS at 12:05 a.m. EST (9:35 a.m. IST). SpaceX's Dragon capsule took approximately 28.5 hours to make the journey from Earth to the ISS.

This spacecraft transported four astronauts -- Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers from NASA, Takuya Onishi from Japan's JAXA, and Kirill Peskov from Russia's Roscosmos.

They will spend the following days acclimating to the ISS alongside NASA astronauts Williams and Wilmore.

The crew is anticipated to enter the ISS after 1:05 a.m. EST (10:35 a.m. IST), where astronaut Wilmore will welcome them.

Williams and Wilmore have been on the ISS since June due to technical complications with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft.

Their return was initially scheduled post an eight-day mission, but ongoing issues delayed their homecoming.

Plans to send them back after Crew-9's arrival in August were also abandoned due to the absence of an emergency escape pod.

Now, with Crew-10 successfully docked, Williams and Wilmore are expected to finally return to Earth alongside Crew-9.

According to SpaceX founder Elon Musk, their return flight is likely to commence in the coming days.

Crew-10's mission was initially set for Wednesday evening but was postponed due to a problem with a ground support clamp arm on the rocket.

Despite the delay, the mission is now back on track, assuring that the long-anticipated return of the stranded astronauts is imminent.

Previously, the astronaut duo was expected to return to Earth by the end of March, but this was expedited after US President Donald Trump urged SpaceX and Musk to bring them back sooner.