With two astronauts on board, but also two seats that will be empty upon departure, a SpaceX mission took off on Saturday, September 28, from Cape Canaveral (Florida) towards the International Space Station (ISS). On its return to Earth, scheduled for February, it will take on board the two astronauts trapped on the ISS since June due to breakdowns in a Boeing ship.
On board this Space X mission are NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbounov. In February 2025 they will take with them the two space veterans Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. They took off in early June aboard a new spacecraft developed by Boeing, Starliner, in what was the first crewed test flight to the Space Station.
The ship was initially scheduled to return them to Earth eight days later, but problems detected with its propulsion system led NASA to question its reliability.
Takeoff delayed by Hurricane Helene
After long weeks of testing, the space agency finally recovered the empty Boeing capsule and decided to bring back the two castaways with the SpaceX Crew-9 mission. “We know that this launch is a bit unique, since it is only planned for two passengers”acknowledged Jim Free, associate administrator of NASA, during a press conference on Friday.
Billionaire Elon Musk’s company carries out this regular rotation mission for the ISS crew, which is scheduled to last, like all the others, in about six months. However, Crew-9’s liftoff was postponed from mid-August to late September to give NASA teams more time to make a decision regarding the Boeing spacecraft.
The launch had to be postponed again for a few days due to Hurricane Helene, which hit Florida this week. SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to dock at the ISS on Sunday around 11:30 p.m. (Paris time).
