This weekend, a special “parking spot” maneuver over 250 miles above Earth will make history for two NASA astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who will be the first to fly aboard both Boeing’s Starliner and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. Although they initially flew to the International Space Station (ISS) in the Starliner, the spacecraft returned to Earth without them when NASA chose not to send it back with a crew. Now, Wilmore and Williams are set to return to Earth in February 2025 on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Freedom.

The Crew Dragon Freedom arrived at the ISS on September 29 carrying only two astronauts, NASA’s Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, leaving space for Wilmore and Williams. However, with limited docking spots on the ISS, all four astronauts will board the Freedom on Sunday for a quick move from the front-facing to the space-facing port of the Harmony module, making room for an upcoming SpaceX Cargo Dragon scheduled to launch with 6,000 pounds of supplies on Monday night.

Currently, only two docking ports on the ISS can host SpaceX Dragon or Boeing Starliner spacecraft. NASA prefers the front-facing port for new arrivals, so each time a new spacecraft comes, the one currently docked must move.

The maneuver will mark Wilmore and Williams’ first experience in Crew Dragon under its own propulsion and their fourth spacecraft overall (not counting the ISS), having previously flown on both the space shuttle and Soyuz missions. This achievement parallels NASA astronaut John Young, who flew four different spacecraft, including the Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle. Although Young still holds the record for launches from different celestial bodies, astronauts today often have exposure to various spacecraft while working on the ISS, which has been continuously occupied since November 2, 2000.

NASA contracted SpaceX and Boeing through the Commercial Crew Program for U.S.-based launches to the ISS until it is retired. SpaceX has since flown nine crew rotation missions since its Demo-2 test in 2020 and has Crew-10 scheduled for February and Crew-11 for July 2025. Boeing, while behind, aims to begin regular flights with Starliner-1 by late 2025 following a successful crewed test.

Additionally, NASA and Roscosmos continue seat swap missions, allowing cosmonauts to ride Crew Dragon while astronauts take seats on Soyuz missions.