NASA, SpaceX on track for Saturday launch of Crew-9 mission to space station

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Published  September 27, 2024 8:15pm EDT
FOX 35 Orlando

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA and SpaceX hope to launch the Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station on Saturday afternoon.

The mission’s liftoff, postponed due to Hurricane Helene, is now rescheduled for 1:17 p.m., from Space Launch Complex 40.

The Crew-9 astronauts arrived at Kennedy Space Center last weekend, and much of the equipment had been moved to the hangar to protect it from potential storm damage from Hurricane Helene.

NASA currently gives the launch a 55% chance of proceeding as planned. If the mission doesn’t go forward tomorrow, the backup launch windows are set for 12:49 p.m. Sunday and 12:27 p.m. Monday. 

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Meet the NASA/Space X Crew-9 crew

NASA astronaut Nick Hague, the mission’s commander, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, a mission specialist, are currently in isolation as part of a pre-flight quarantine to avoid any illness before joining the Expedition 72 crew aboard the space station.

This will mark Hague’s third launch and second mission to the station, while Gorbunov will make his first trip to space.

As part of Crew-9, Hague and Gorbunov will join NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been aboard the space station since June after arriving on the Starliner spacecraft.

The two astronauts arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida last weekend, where they have remained in quarantine at the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building until launch.

NASA astronaut Nick Hague (left) and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov pose for portraits in their flight suits at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California. Credit: SpaceX

Crew-9 is the ninth crew rotation mission to the space station with SpaceX under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The crew is set to spend about five months in the orbiting laboratory, conducting spacewalks, research, and experiments before returning to Earth in February 2025 with Williams and Wilmore.

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