SpaceX is preparing to launch a mission that will bring Starliner astronauts home

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A SpaceX mission scheduled to launch Saturday aims to unite Boeing Starliner astronauts with the spacecraft that will bring them home. NASA’s Sonny Williams and Butch Wilmore have already been on the International Space Station more than 100 days longer than expected.

The mission, called Crew-9, is on track for liftoff at 1:17 p.m. EDT Saturday from Space Force Station Cape Canaveral in Florida. NASA will stream the event live on its website Website.

The space agency had earlier postponed the launch attempt from Thursday, returning the spacecraft to its hangar while Hurricane Helen was threatening Florida and other parts of the southeastern United States. Mission teams reset everything on the launch pad after the danger has passed.

“We lifted off a little late this morning,” Steve Stich, director of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said at a news conference on Friday. “We are perpendicular to the pillow.”

A backup launch window has also been set for 12:54 PM ET on Sunday in case weather or technical issues cancel Saturday’s attempt.

Unlike other routine flights that transport astronauts to and from the space station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program — of which SpaceX has already launched eight — the outer leg of this mission will carry only two crew members instead of four: NASA astronaut Nick Hague and astronaut Roscosmos Alexander Gorbunov.

Two more empty seats, designated for Williams and Wilmore, will fly by for the spacecraft’s return flight in 2025.

This configuration is part of an ad hoc plan that NASA chose to implement in late August after the space agency deemed the Starliner capsule too risky to return with Williams and Willmore. The two took the Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station in early June for what was expected to be a roughly week-long test flight.

Upon liftoff, Hague and Gorbunov will be strapped inside the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, nicknamed Freedom, as it settles atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The launch vehicle will roar to life, powered by nine massive engines located at its base to propel the 1.2 million-pound (544,300) rocket system kilograms) in the air.

After about two and a half minutes, the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage will stop firing and separate from the rocket’s second stage. The second stage will then ignite its own engine and continue to propel the Crew Dragon capsule to more than 17,000 mph (27,360 km/h) – or 22 times the speed of sound.

As the crew rockets at higher speeds, the rocket’s first stage will guide itself backwards and land on a ground pad in Florida so SpaceX can refurbish and reuse the vehicle.

Once the Crew Dragon capsule reaches orbital speed, the spacecraft will separate from the Falcon 9’s second stage and begin maneuvering through orbit on its own, using the onboard thrusters to gradually adjust its position so it can dock with the International Space Station, expected at around 5 p.m.: 30 PM ET on Sunday.

On September 6, Williams and Willmore watched as the Boeing-built capsule returned from the station without them.

Engineers worked for months to understand the problems with helium leaks and propulsion interruptions that plagued the Starliner’s flight to the space station, and NASA ultimately declared that too many uncertainties and risks existed for the vehicle to be trusted to carry the crew on the return flight. It’s not clear when the Boeing Starliner might fly again.

NASA remains in the same position as it was four years ago, with SpaceX being the sole provider of the space agency’s Commercial Crew Program, which is designed to hand off crew rotation on the International Space Station to the private sector. (Contracts were awarded to both Boeing and SpaceX in 2014, and SpaceX began routine flights in 2020, while Boeing struggled to push Starliner development to the finish line.)

To bring Williams and Wilmore home, NASA turned to SpaceX — choosing to remove two previously assigned members of the Crew-9 team to make room for Starliner test pilots.

Space agency Announce At the end of August, NASA astronauts Stephanie Wilson and Zena Cardman will be the two members of the mission’s ejection. Cardman was prepared to make her first trip into space and was expected to be the Crew-9 mission commander.

Gorbunov, the Russian astronaut who earned his seat through a ride-sharing agreement signed between NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos, remained on the crew. Cardman handed over the duties of commander – the highest position in space flight – to The Haguewho was previously assigned as a pilot for Crew-9.

“Handing over command to The Hague is both heartbreaking and an honor. “Nick and Alex are a really excellent team and they will be ready to step up,” Cardman said. mail On social media platform X, formerly Twitter, after the announcement.

“I only wish Wilson, Nick, Alex and I could fly together, but we choose without hesitation to be part of something much bigger than ourselves. Astra ad per Aspira. “Go crew 9.”

Meanwhile, Williams and Willmore engaged in daily life aboard the space station. The duo moved from a lighter test mission schedule to taking on full-time crew member roles, with Williams assuming the role of commander in the orbiting laboratory.

Gorbunov and Hague will join them after docking with the space station scheduled for Sunday.

When asked if he was having difficulty adjusting to the prospect of waiting months longer to return home, Wilmore said during a Sept. 13 news conference from the space station: “I wouldn’t worry about it. I mean, there’s no point to it at all. So it was my switch — maybe It wasn’t instant – but it was very close.

Williams said she misses her family and is disappointed to miss some family events this fall and winter, but added: “This is my happy place.” I love being here in space. It’s just fun. You know, every day that you do something, like quote or unquote, you can do it upside down. You can do it sideways, so it adds a little different perspective.