NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov will blast off for the International Space Station on Saturday after several delays. The SpaceX Crew-9 mission will launch from the Cape Canaveral area – with live coverage available around the world.
An official release from the space agency indicates that both are scheduled to lift off from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on September 28 at 1:17 p.m. EDT. The targeted docking time is approximately 5:30 pm Sunday.
Launch coverage will begin at approximately 9:00 a.m. Saturday (6:40 p.m. in India) via the NASA+ site as well as the official NASA website. Arrival coverage will begin at 3:30 pm the following day on the same platforms.
The Crew-9 mission was originally scheduled to launch in mid-August. It was pushed back a month to spend more time analyzing issues with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which is docked at the station. The departure date was pushed back again this week amid Tropical Storm Helene. The storm is expected to bring high winds and heavy rain to the Florida launch area as it moves through the Gulf of Mexico.
This will be the ninth crew rotation mission with SpaceX under the space agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Indian-origin Sunita Williams have been stranded in space for weeks after their Boeing Starliner suffered a helium leak and problems with its reaction control thrusters while approaching the space station. NASA later deemed it ‘too risky’ for both of them to return in the same capsule – extending their eight-day mission to more than eight months.
The two are now full-time station crew members along with seven others. They will fly home in February aboard the Dragon spacecraft along with two other crew members assigned to the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission.
(with inputs from agencies)
