A live broadcast of the expedition revealed that the SpaceX crew, which is scheduled to rescue two astronauts who become stuck on the International Space Station in February 2025, arrived with the orbiting laboratory on Sunday.
At 1:17 p.m. (1717 GMT) on Saturday, the Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida. At 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, the Dragon spacecraft carrying the Crew-9 mission made contact with the International Space Station (ISS).
Soon after docking was finished, Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov and National Aeronautics and Space Administration astronaut Nick Hague boarded the station and embraced their floating coworkers.
One of the two astronauts that were stuck on Dragon Freedom, station commander Suni Williams, said, “I just want to say welcome to our new compadres.”
“Welcome to the International Space Station, Alex. Welcome home, Nick,” she greeted them.
In February, Hague and Gorbunov will return from the International Space Station (ISS), bringing with them space veterans Williams and Butch Wilmore, whose mission was delayed for several months because of issues with their Starliner spacecraft, which was built by Boeing.
In June 2024, the newly-built Starliner was delivering Wilmore and Williams to the International Space Station (ISS) for its first crewed flight.
NASA was forced to consider a drastic adjustment in schedule after issues with the Starliner’s propulsion system surfaced during the voyage. Originally, they were only expected to be there for eight days.
The space agency ultimately made the decision to return the Starliner to Earth without its crew and to send the two stranded astronauts home on SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission after weeks of rigorous testing on the ship’s dependability.
In order to facilitate the rotation of ISS astronauts, entrepreneur Elon Musk’s private enterprise SpaceX has been conducting regular missions every six months.
However, in order to give NASA specialists more time to assess the Starliner’s dependability and make a decision, the launch of Crew-9 was pushed back from mid-August to late September.
Then, on Thursday, Hurricane Helene, a strong storm that blasted into the opposite side of Florida, delayed it by a few more days.
Hague and Gorbunov will be on the ISS for approximately five months. Williams and Wilmore will be there for eight months.
During their visit, Crew-9 will carry out almost 200 scientific experiments.
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