SpaceX Crew-9 launch today: Spacecraft will offer Starliner astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore a ride home | Technology News
Nasa has cleared the 1st astronaut launch to the International Space Station (ISS) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The launch on September 28 of the SpaceX spacecraft will bring back Boeing Starliner astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore. Both Williams and Wilmore have been staying on the ISS ever since their space capsule suffered helium leaks and thruster issues, forcing Nasa to delay their stay.
Reportedly, the Crew-9 launch will be SpaceX’s first from SLC -40 pad at the space force station in Florida. The SpaceX Falcon 9 and Dragon spacecraft will launch two Crew-9 astronauts to the ISS at 1:17 PM EDT (10:47 PM IST) on Saturday.
This will be the first time since its May 2020 test flight that SpaceX is launching with only two astronauts – Russian cosmonaut Alexandr Gorbunov and Nasa veteran Nick Hague, to the ISS. This is a break from SpaceX usual ISS crew rotation flights. This would also be the first time when SpaceX will be sending humans to space from a pad other than Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39-A.
Following the Boeing Starliner debacle, Nasa opted for Elon Musk’s SpaceX for the safe return of Williams and Wilmore. The Crew-9 which was also supposed to have commander Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson, will now fly with only Hague and Gorbunov making room for the Starliner astronauts. Williams and Wilmore are presently stranded on ISS after their capsule returned empty to Earth on September 7.
“We’re proceeding toward launch and going to proceed at 1:17 p.m. tomorrow,” Steve Stich, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager, said in a press briefing. Stitch said that they were vertical at the pad, and the next big activity would be loading the cargo in the afternoon and getting ready for the flight.
The launch was earlier slated for Thursday but was called off owing to Hurricane Helene. The Space Coast was also under a tropical storm warning through the day and nearby tornado warnings.
The Crew-9 launch will be live-streamed on YouTube. You can watch it live below.
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What happened to the Boeing Starliner?
The Boeing Starliner, a test flight was launched on June 5 with Williams and Wilmore onboard. The space capsule was expected to return in eight days. However, owing to helium leaks and thruster failures, Nasa decided against bringing back the duo on Starliner. The space agency later decided to bring back the astronauts on SpaceX Falcon 9 which will return the astronauts to Earth by February 2025.
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