A SpaceX mission successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Saturday, carrying two passengers and two empty seats to bring astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore back from the International Space Station (ISS), where they have been stranded for several months. Onboard the spacecraft are NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov.
NASA rotates crews on the space station every six months, meaning the newly launched flight won’t return until late February. By that time, Williams and Wilmore will have spent over eight months in space, far longer than the week they anticipated when they signed up for Boeing’s first astronaut flight in June. NASA determined that Boeing’s Starliner, which initially transported them to the ISS, was too risky for the return journey due to thruster issues and helium leaks.
To accommodate Wilmore and Williams on the return trip, two astronauts were cut from the SpaceX launch. SpaceX, the private company founded by billionaire Elon Musk, has been conducting regular missions every six months to facilitate crew rotations at the ISS.
The launch of Crew-9 was delayed from mid-August to late September to allow NASA experts additional time to assess the reliability of the Starliner. Further postponements occurred due to Hurricane Helene, which impacted Florida on Thursday. SpaceX’s Dragon vessel is scheduled to dock with the ISS on Sunday around 21:30 GMT.
After a handover period, Crew-8’s four members will return to Earth on another SpaceX craft. Hague and Gorbunov are set to spend about five months on the ISS, while Wilmore and Williams will remain there for a total of eight months. Crew-9 is expected to conduct approximately 200 scientific experiments during their mission.
