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SpaceX Crew-9 Launches To Bring Home Starliner Astronauts Photo: AP SpaceX Crew-9 Launches To Bring Home Starliner Astronauts Photo: AP

A SpaceX mission aimed at reuniting the Boeing Starliner astronauts with the spacecraft that will bring them home has successfully launched. NASA's Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have now been aboard the International Space Station for over 100 days longer than originally planned.

The SpaceX mission, known as Crew-9, lifted off at 1:17 p.m. ET on Saturday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

NASA had previously postponed the launch attempt from Thursday, moving the spacecraft back into its hangar as Hurricane Helene posed a threat to Florida and other areas in the southeastern United States. After the danger had passed, mission teams reconfigured everything at the launch pad on Friday.

Unlike previous routine missions transporting astronauts to and from the space station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program—of which SpaceX has completed eight—the outbound leg of this mission is carrying only two crew members instead of four: NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.

Two seats are left unoccupied, reserved for Williams and Wilmore for the spacecraft’s return flight in 2025. This configuration is part of an improvised plan that NASA decided to implement in late August after determining that the Starliner capsule posed too much risk for crewed return.

While it might seem like a rescue mission, that's not the case. NASA officials have confirmed that Williams and Wilmore are highly trained and well-equipped to wait a few more months at the space station following the troubled Starliner vehicle's undocking earlier in September, which resulted in their return to Earth without them.

Williams and Wilmore traveled to the International Space Station aboard the Starliner in early June for what was initially expected to be a weeklong test flight.

The Start Of Crew Dragon's Mission

At liftoff, Hague and Gorbunov were securely seated inside the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, dubbed Freedom, positioned atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The launch vehicle roared to life, activating nine powerful engines at its base to propel the 1.2 million-pound (544,300-kilogram) rocket system into the sky.

Approximately 2 ½ minutes into the flight, the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket ceased firing and detached from the rocket’s second stage. The second stage then ignited its engine, continuing to accelerate the Crew Dragon capsule to over 17,000 miles per hour (27,360 kilometers per hour), which is 22 times the speed of sound.

As the crew sped up, the rocket’s first stage autonomously guided itself back to a landing pad in Florida, allowing SpaceX to refurbish and reuse the vehicle.

Once the Crew Dragon capsule reached orbital speeds, it separated from the Falcon 9’s second stage and began maneuvering through orbit independently, using onboard thrusters to gradually adjust its position for docking with the International Space Station, expected around 5:30 p.m. ET on Sunday.

Starliner Astronauts To Come Home With Crew-9 Dragon Spacecraft

Crew-9 was initially slated for launch on August 18, but NASA decided to postpone the mission due to ongoing issues with Boeing's Starliner capsule. The Starliner was supposed to undock and return to Earth approximately 10 days after arriving at the station in early June.

Boeing had invested years in developing and testing the vehicle ahead of its inaugural crewed test flight, which successfully launched on June 5 after experiencing several delays. There were high hopes that this demonstration would enable Starliner to compete with SpaceX for transporting cargo and crews to the space station for NASA.

However, upon Williams and Wilmore's arrival at the space station on June 6, engineers discovered multiple helium leaks and propulsion system issues with the Starliner, leading NASA to ultimately decide to send the vehicle back to Earth without its crew.

Now, Hague and Gorbunov will not only relieve the Crew-8 team, which has been at the station since March, but they will also arrive aboard the vehicle intended to finally bring Starliner astronauts Wilmore and Williams home.

At a press conference over the weekend, Hague mentioned that ensuring Wilmore and Williams are well-versed in Dragon operations will be one of his and Gorbunov's key priorities during their time at the station.

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A 'Heartbreaking' Swap: Crew Changes For Starliner’s Return

On September 6, Williams and Wilmore observed as their Boeing-built capsule returned from the station without them.

Engineers had dedicated months to investigating issues with helium leaks and thruster outages that had affected the Starliner’s journey to the space station. Ultimately, NASA determined that too many uncertainties and risks existed to trust the vehicle for crew transport on its return trip. The timeline for Boeing’s Starliner to fly again remains unclear.

NASA finds itself in the same situation it has faced for the past four years, relying solely on SpaceX as the provider for its Commercial Crew Program, which was designed to delegate crew rotations at the International Space Station to the private sector. Both Boeing and SpaceX were awarded contracts in 2014, with SpaceX beginning routine flights in 2020, while Boeing has struggled to finalize Starliner development.

To facilitate Williams and Wilmore's return home, NASA turned to SpaceX, opting to remove two previously assigned members from its Crew-9 team to accommodate the Starliner test pilots.

At the end of August, the space agency announced that NASA astronauts Stephanie Wilson and Zena Cardman would be removed from the mission. Cardman had been slated for her first trip to space and was expected to serve as the commander of Crew-9.

Gorbunov, a Russian cosmonaut who secured his seat through a ride-sharing agreement between NASA and Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, remained with the crew. Cardman handed over the commander duties—the top position on a spaceflight—to Hague, who had previously been designated as the pilot for Crew-9.

“Handing the helm to (Hague) is both heartbreaking and an honor. Nick and Alex are truly an excellent team, and they will be ready to step up,” Cardman expressed in a post on the social platform X, formerly Twitter, after the announcement.

During NASA’s livestream on Saturday, Cardman reflected on how challenging it was to watch the launch while thinking, “That’s my rocket, that’s my crew.”

Williams And Wilmore Adapt To Life In Space

In the meantime, Williams and Wilmore have adapted to daily life on the space station. The duo transitioned from a lighter test mission schedule to full-time crew roles, with Williams taking on the position of commander at the orbiting laboratory.

Gorbunov and Hague will join them after docking with the station.

When asked about the adjustment to waiting several more months to return home, Wilmore said during a September 13 news briefing from the space station, “I’m not gonna fret over it. I mean, there’s no benefit to it at all. So my transition was — maybe it wasn’t instantaneous — but it was pretty close.”

Williams mentioned that she missed her family and was disappointed to miss some family events this fall and winter. However, she added, “This is my happy place. I love being up here in space. It’s just fun. You know, every day you do something that’s work, quote, unquote, you can do it upside down. You can do it sideways, so it adds a little different perspective.”

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Who Are The Crew-9 Astronauts?

Since Williams and Wilmore require a ride home, NASA and SpaceX decided not to send a full team of four Crew-9 astronauts. Consequently, NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson were removed from the mission, although the agency stated that both women remain eligible for reassignment.

The Crew-9 team, consisting of Hague and Gorbunov, has a busy agenda ahead as they join Expedition 72, which includes a range of experiments and maintenance tasks at the station.

For Gorbunov, this mission marks his inaugural visit to the space station. In contrast, Hague is a seasoned astronaut, having previously visited the station during one of his two earlier spaceflights.

Hague and Gorbunov arrived at the space center last Saturday to begin quarantine and finalize preparations for the mission, including a launch rehearsal after the Dragon was integrated with the Falcon 9. The vehicle was then temporarily returned to the hangar in anticipation of Hurricane Helene's arrival.

This mission marked the first human spaceflight to take off from Space Launch Complex-40.

Hague, hailing from Belleville, Kansas, will serve as the crew commander for Crew-9. Selected as a NASA astronaut in 2013, Hague is also an active-duty colonel in the U.S. Space Force. He has spent 203 days in space and completed three spacewalks.

Gorbunov will act as the mission specialist. The Russian astronaut studied engineering at the Moscow Aviation Institute, where he specialized in operating and repairing aircraft before being selected as a cosmonaut in 2018.

What Will The Crew-9 Astronauts Do At The Space Station?

The SpaceX flight marks the ninth crew rotation mission to the space station as part of NASA's commercial crew program, which represents a shift towards paying private companies for missions that were previously conducted by the agency itself.

Once aboard the space station, Hague and Gorbunov will join Expedition 72, where they will spend six months conducting experiments, research demonstrations, and performing spacewalks for maintenance. Much of their work will focus on preparing for future human exploration deeper into space.

Despite the delayed launch this weektayabet, the team is still on track to return in February alongside the Starliner astronauts on the Dragon, according to NASA.

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