The SpaceX Crew-9 mission, destined to deliver two astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), has experienced another delay, moving the launch date to September 26th. This latest postponement comes after the mission was initially slated for August 18th with a four-person crew. However, the launch was pushed back to allow time for the troubled Boeing Starliner capsule to return from the station.
NASA made the decision to incorporate the Starliner astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, into the Crew-9 mission. This led to two empty seats on the Dragon spacecraft, which will be used for their return trip in February 2024. The Crew-9 launch was initially set for September 25th but was shifted one day to allow teams to finalize pre-launch procedures and hardware checks while closely monitoring weather conditions. The launch is now scheduled for 2:05 p.m. ET (11:05 a.m. PT) on Thursday, September 26th.
The two astronauts onboard the Crew-9 mission are NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. They will join Wilmore and Williams, along with three Soyuz crew members and the current Crew-8 members, who are slated to return to Earth after a brief handover. This mission marks Hague’s second journey to the space station, though it’s his third space launch, having previously been on a mission that was aborted shortly after liftoff. He successfully reached the station in 2019 and spent a total of 203 days in space.
Once the Crew-9 astronauts arrive at the ISS, they will participate in a range of scientific research, including investigating blood cell development in space and exploring the potential benefits of daily vitamin B supplements in mitigating vision issues associated with prolonged space missions. The crew will also contribute to station maintenance, which includes installing specialized patches on the NICER X-ray telescope to prevent light leaks and enhance the accuracy of its observations.
