NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission hopes to bring back two more astronauts stranded in space

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Mission: In an attempt to rescue two additional astronauts who are stranded in orbit, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission is scheduled to launch on Saturday and send two men hurtling toward the International Space Station.

At 1:17 PM ET, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is expected to lift the Dragon capsule’s occupants, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, into orbit from Florida’s Cape Canaveral orbit Force Station.

The Dragon spacecraft will stay docked with the International Space Station (ISS) for five months until it is re-entried with the Crew-9 astronauts and Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, the NASA astronauts who were forced to flee to the station in June on a broken Boeing Starliner and have been stuck in orbit ever since.

Under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, Crew-9 is SpaceX’s ninth crew rotation mission to the space station. In order to maintain the space station, they will conduct experiments, research demonstrations, and spacewalks for around five months onboard the orbiting laboratory, according to a blog post from NASA.

Normally, the Dragon transports four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), but, as the Starliner has already returned to Earth without the occupants, two berths were left free to transport Williams and Wilmore back from the station.

Helium leaks and propulsion system malfunctions were among the several challenges Boeing’s Starliner encountered in June while on its trip to the International Space Station. Despite the spacecraft’s successful docking with the International Space Station, doubts were expressed over the astronauts’ safety and dependability throughout their return trip due to technical issues.

Williams and Wilmore were essentially left stranded on the ISS when the decision was made in early September to return the Starliner to Earth without the astronauts on board.

Originally scheduled to launch in August, the Crew-9 mission was postponed as NASA and Boeing officials worked out a solution regarding Starliner and the astronauts.
After that, the launch was rescheduled for September 26. However, this was again postponed since Hurricane Helene made landfall that evening.

“NASA and SpaceX teams have adjusted the next launch opportunity for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission to no earlier than 1:17 p.m. EDT, Saturday, Sept. 28, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida due to expected tropical storm conditions in the area,” the agency said.

NASA will webcast the Dragon’s launch and arrival to the International Space Station live. The Crew-8 astronauts, who have been on the ISS since March, will be replaced by the astronauts of Crew-9, who will fly up in the Dragon capsule.

In February of the next year, Hague, Gorbunov, Williams, and Wilmore would all return to Earth.