SpaceX launches mission to bring Starliner astronauts home

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The SpaceX mission to reunite the Boeing Starliner with the shuttle that will bring astronauts home has flown. NASA’s Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have now spent more than 100 days on the International Space Station than expected.

The SpaceX mission, Crew-9, lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 1:17 p.m. Saturday.

NASA earlier delayed the launch attempt from Thursday, rolling the spacecraft back into its hangar as Hurricane Helen threatened Florida and other parts of the southeastern United States. Mission crews reset everything on the launch pad on Friday after passing the hazard.

Unlike other regular missions that carry astronauts to the space station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program — of which SpaceX has already launched eight — the outbound leg of this mission carries only two crew members instead of four: NASA astronaut Nick Hack and Roscosmos astronaut Alexander. Korbunov.

The two seats reserved for Williams and Wilmore on the shuttle’s return flight in 2025 are flying empty. The structure is part of a temporary plan that NASA chose to implement in late August after the space agency deemed the Starliner capsule too dangerous. Return with the crew.

Williams and Wilmore traveled to the International Space Station in early June on the Starliner

At liftoff, Hack and Korbunov were strapped inside the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, nicknamed Freedom, which sat atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The launch vehicle powered nine massive engines sitting on its base to propel the 1.2 million pound (544,300 kilogram) rocket system into the air.

About 2 ½ minutes later, the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage quit firing and separated from the rocket’s second stage. The second stage ignited its own engine, propelling the Crew Dragon capsule to 17,000 miles per hour (27,360 kilometers per hour) – or 22 times the speed of sound.

As the crew burned at breakneck speed, the rocket’s first stage guided itself back to land on the ground in Florida so SpaceX could refurbish the vehicle and reuse it.

Once the Crew Dragon capsule reached orbital velocity, the spacecraft separated from Falcon 9’s second stage and began maneuvering into its own orbit, using internal thrusters to gradually adjust its position before docking with the International Space Station. :30 pm ET Sunday.

“Thanks guys, you know, we’ve had the opportunity to meet a lot of people involved with Falcon 9,” Hack said on NASA’s livestream after the launch. “It’s been a pleasant ride.”

Williams and Wilmore saw their Boeing-built capsule return from the station without them on September 6.

Engineers worked for months to understand issues like helium leaks and propulsion malfunctions that plagued Starliner’s journey to the space station, and NASA eventually announced several uncertainties and risks. It’s unclear when Boeing’s Starliner will fly again.

NASA remains in the same position it has been for four years, with SpaceX being the sole provider for the space agency’s commercial crew program, which is designed to outsource the task of crew orbiting the International Space Station. (Boeing and SpaceX were both awarded contracts in 2014, and SpaceX began regular 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 from its Crew-9 crew to make room for the Starliner test pilots.

Space Agency declared NASA astronauts Stephanie Wilson and Gina Cartman will be the members launched from the mission at the end of August. Cartman was set to make his first trip into space and was expected to be the commander of the Crew-9 mission.

Russian cosmonaut Korpunov, who earned his spot through a ride-sharing agreement signed between NASA and Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, was on board. And Cartman was handed commander duties — the top position of a spaceship — HackFormerly named Crew-9 pilot.

“Handing over the leadership to Hack is both heartbreaking and an honor. Nick and Alex are truly a great team and will be ready to move forward,” said Cartman. Position On social platform X, formerly Twitter, after the announcement.

“Me (Wilson), Nick, Alex and I love to fly together, but we also want to be a part of something much bigger than ourselves without hesitation. Ad Astra to Aspera. Go Crew 9.”

Speaking on NASA’s livestream on Saturday, Cartman admitted it was hard to watch the launch without thinking, “That’s my rocket, that’s my crew.”

Meanwhile, Williams and Wilmore have settled into everyday life on the space station. Both assumed roles as full-time crew members from light experimental work schedules, with Williams assuming the role of commander of the orbiting laboratory.

Korbunov and Hague will join them after docking with the space station.

Asked if he would have trouble adjusting to the prospect of waiting months to get home, Wilmore said at a Sept. 13 news conference from the space station, “I’m not going to worry about it. That is, there is no benefit in it. So my transition – maybe it wasn’t immediate – but it was pretty close.

Williams said he misses his family and is disappointed to miss some family events this fall and winter, but he added, “This is my happy place. I love being here in space. It’s fun. You know, every day you’re doing something like work, quote, quote.” , you can do it upside down, you can do it sideways, so it adds a little bit of a different perspective.