Replace for two p.m. ET: SpaceX efficiently launched the Crew-9 astronaut mission for NASA at 1:17 p.m. EDT (1517 GMT). Learn our full wrap and see launch movies and images.
SpaceX will launch two astronauts on a type of rescue mission at present (Sept. 28), and you’ll watch it dwell.
Crew-9, the ninth operational SpaceX astronaut flight to the Worldwide House Station (ISS) for NASA, is scheduled to raise off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral House Drive Station at present at 1:17 pm EDT (1717 GMT).
You possibly can watch the occasion dwell right here at House.com by way of NASA+, previously NASA Tv. Protection will start at 9:10 a.m. EDT (1310 GMT). Observe our Crew-9 mission updates web page for dwell launch updates.
The 2 astronauts on board are commander Nick Hague, who’s with NASA and the U.S. House Drive, and mission specialist Aleksandr Gorbunov, of the Russian area company Roscosmos.
Assuming at present’s launch goes on time, Hague and Gorbunov are scheduled to dock with the ISS on Sunday (Sept. 29) at 5:30 p.m. EDT (2230 GMT), with protection beginning on NASA+ two hours beforehand. The hatch opening between the station and Dragon will happen at roughly 7:15 p.m. EDT (2315 GMT).
Associated: SpaceX’s Crew-9 astronaut flight for NASA launches this week. This is the way it was a rescue mission
SpaceX Crew Dragon capsules often carry 4 individuals to the ISS on such missions. However Crew-9 is leaving two seats empty so the Dragon can deliver house two NASA astronauts — Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams — who reached the orbiting lab in June, on the first-ever crewed mission of Boeing’s Starliner capsule. Starliner returned to Earth uncrewed on Sept. 7, nonetheless, after struggling thruster issues in orbit.
So Crew-9’s Dragon was pressed into service to deliver the Starliner duo house in February 2025. A crew shuffle occurred in August, eradicating rookie Zena Cardman and three-time area shuttle astronaut Stephanie Wilson from Crew-9 to make room for Williams and Wilmore. (Wilson and Cardman are eligible for future missions.)
Within the unlikely occasion the ISS wants an emergency evacuation earlier than Crew-9 arrives, there’s one more backup for Williams and Wilmore: they are going to use the Crew-8 Dragon capsule, which stays docked on the station (and can depart shortly after Crew-9 arrives). Since 4 astronauts are already assigned to Crew-8’s seats, Wilmore and Williams would use non permanent seats within the cargo space ought to that state of affairs unfold.
As soon as Crew-9 docks, Williams and Wilmore’s emergency evacuation plans will pivot to utilizing that spacecraft as a substitute.