Sept 29 (Reuters) - A SpaceX Crew Dragon space capsule,

which is due to bring home stuck astronauts Butch Wilmore and

Suni Williams next year, arrived at the International Space

Station (ISS) on Sunday, according to NASA and SpaceX.

NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr

Gorbunov boarded the ISS shortly after the Dragon capsule docked

at the station at 2130 GMT, NASA said in a post on X.

The SpaceX Crew-9 mission was supposed to transport four

astronauts to the ISS until two empty seats had to be opened up

for Wilmore and Williams after the Boeing Starliner capsule they

arrived on in June was deemed unfit to return them to Earth.

The two former military test pilots have been stuck on the

ISS since then after the Starliner capsule suffered thruster

failures and helium leaks. NASA decided it wasn't safe for the

astronauts to return on Starliner, which was sent back to Earth

empty earlier this month.

Wilmore and Williams, who were the first crew to fly on the

troubled Starliner, are now due to return home with Hague and

Gorbunov on Crew Dragon in February next year, as what was

supposed to be an 8-day mission has turned into an 8-month

ordeal.

(Reporting by Joe Brock; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)