Mission launches that will bring stuck astronauts home

A commercial space company has launched a mission to bring back two astronauts who have been stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) since June.

Nasa's Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams travelled to the ISS for what was supposed to be an eight day mission.

But following problems with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft they travelled in, their stay has been extended and now is likely to be closer to an eight month stay in space.

SpaceX is stepping in to try and bring them home, but it's looks like they won't back on Earth until February.

Why are the two astronauts stuck in space?

Before Wilmore and Williams left on their mission to the ISS in June, Nasa discovered some issues - including several helium leaks coming from their Starliner capsule.

Experts thought the small leaks would not impact the mission, so went ahead with the launch.

But the craft ran into further problems, including more leaks and issues with its thrusters, so more tests took place to check if Starliner would be safe to get the astronauts home.

Eventually Nasa said the problems became too risky, and the space agency decided that it wasn’t safe enough to use Starliner for the crew’s journey back to Earth.

In September, Starliner undocked from the ISS and the spacecraft returned to Earth without Wilmore and Williams onboard.

How will the two astronauts now get home?

A SpaceX Dragon capsule lifted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida in the US on Saturday with two empty seats, ready to bring the two astronauts home.

But that journey back to Earth won’t be completed until next year, meaning the pair will have Halloween and Christmas in space.

Don't worry though, Butch and Suni got an early present of sorts, in the form of a delivery of fresh clothes and supplies as part of the Dragon capsule's cargo.