NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 on Way to International Space Station
The two crew members of NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 mission launched at 1:17 p.m. EDT Saturday, for a science expedition aboard the International Space Station (ISS)
Washington: Hague and Gorbunov, the two crew members of NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 mission, launched at 1:17 p.m. EDT Saturday, for a science expedition aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
"A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket propelled the Dragon spacecraft into orbit carrying NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. The spacecraft will dock autonomously to the forward-facing port of the station's Harmony module at approximately 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 29, where Hague and Gorbunov will join Expedition 72 for a five-month stay aboard the orbiting laboratory", NASA said.
Hague is the commander of Crew-9 and is making his second trip to the orbital outpost since his selection as an astronaut in 2013. He will serve as a mission specialist during Expedition 72/73 aboard the space station.
During Dragon's flight, SpaceX will monitor a series of automatic spacecraft maneuvers from its mission control center in Hawthorne, California. NASA will monitor space station operations throughout the flight from the Mission Control Center at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The SpaceX mission launched Saturday will also bring home two astronauts, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore stranded aboard the International Space Station (ISS) after Boeing’s spacecraft failed to return them earlier this month due to safety concerns.
NASA's SpaceX Crew 9 mission is carrying two astronauts instead of four so as to bring both stranded members of NASA back to Earth by Feburary 2025.
This is the first human spaceflight mission launched from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, and the agency's ninth commercial crew rotation mission to the space station, NASA said.
The two crew members of SpaceX Crew-9 mission will join the space station's Expedition 72 crew of NASA astronauts Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick, Jeanette Epps, Don Pettit, Butch Wilmore, and Sunita Williams, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexander Grebenkin, Alexey Ovchinin, and Ivan Vagner.
When will Sunita Willams return to Earth?
The number of crew aboard the space station will increase to 11 for a short time until Crew-8 members Barratt, Dominick, Epps, and Grebenkin depart the space station in early October.
"The crewmates will conduct more than 200 scientific investigations, including blood clotting studies, moisture effects on plants grown in space, and vision changes in astronauts during their mission.
"Following their stay aboard the space station, Hague and Gorbunov will be joined by Williams and Wilmore to return to Earth in February 2025", NASA said.
Wilmore and Williams originally expected to spend just a week in space as part of Boeing’s first crewed Starliner flight, launched in June. However, after Boeing’s Starliner was deemed too risky by NASA following a series of technical problems, their return was delayed. By the time they come home, they will have logged more than eight months in space.
With this mission, NASA continues to maximize the use of the orbiting laboratory, where people have lived and worked continuously for more than 23 years, testing technologies, performing science, and developing the skills needed to operate future commercial destinations in low Earth orbit and explore farther from Earth.
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