SpaceX and Boeing Starliner saga continues with Crew-9 launch to ISS

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — It’s not a rescue mission, but the two astronauts left behind by Boeing’s Starliner at the International Space Station will soon welcome their new ride home with the arrival of a SpaceX Crew Dragon that made a historic launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Base on Saturday.

A Falcon 9 topped with the Crew Dragon Freedom launched from Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 1:17 p.m. marking the first human spaceflight from the pad, a feat accomplished after SpaceX spent nearly two years building out a new crew tower at the site. All previous SpaceX Crew Dragon launches have been from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-A.

The pad’s first two space travelers were NASA astronaut and Space Force Col. Nick Hague flying with Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.

“It was a sweet ride,” Hague said after Dragon made it into orbit. “I’m pretty sure my youngest son would say it was sigma.”

The mission flew with just two instead of four so that NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who arrived to the ISS on board Starliner back on June 6, could have a ride back to Earth when the Crew-9 mission ends in February 2025.

NASA opted to send Starliner home without crew because of thruster and helium leak concerns on that spacecraft’s propulsion system during its flight up to the station.

That decision meant two of Crew-9’s original members, who had been training for 18 months for the flight, had to be left behind. Zena Cardman, who would have been flying for the first time, had originally been tapped as commander while Hague trained as pilot. Veteran NASA astronaut Stephanie Wilson was supposed to fly as mission specialist.

With the need to drop two crew members, NASA opted to drop rookie Cardman and give the command to Hague, a veteran of two previous launches and one long-term stay on board the ISS.

Cardman and Wilson, though, joined NASA’s mission commentary ahead of launch from KSC.

“It’s bittersweet, but it’s a really beautiful thing,” Cardman said ahead of liftoff. “I think any launch is a testament to the power of collaboration, and this launch maybe even more so than usual. I think, from my perspective, it’s a privilege and a choice to take part in something that’s larger than yourself, and that’s a choice that I make today and the next day and the next day.”

Wilson, one of NASA’s oldest active astronauts who had flown three times on the space shuttle, echoed the emotions of Cardman.

“We’re always excited for our colleagues to have an opportunity to launch into space. Of course, we wish we could be with them. We have trained with them, for this time. We, of course, wanted to be together. We have built friendship and camaraderie, and learned for the roles for the Crew Dragon and for the International Space Station. But I’m very excited for them, looking forward to hearing their stories from space.”

The rocket took off through hazy, cloud-covered skies in a break from dicey rainstorms that had dumped torrents on the pad just hours before liftoff. Hurricane Helene had forced a delay of the original planned launch that had been targeting Thursday.

The first-stage booster made its second flight, and returned for a landing at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1 sending a sonic boom across the Space Coast.

Upon reaching orbit, Hague revealed the traditional zero-G indicator, a small stuffed baby falcon named Aurora that had actually flown with Hague on his last flight to space in 2019.

The Crew Dragon now has about a 28-hour ride to rendezvous with the ISS and join the nine people already on the station. Wilmore and Williams have another five months on board before they can take their saved seats for the ride back home.

Hague and Gorbunov had donned their spacesuits by 9 a.m. before leaving KSC’s Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building where they had been in quarantine since arriving last Saturday. The duo said goodbye to family and NASA officials including Administrator Bill Nelson. They then climbed into the traditional ride provided for SpaceX launches, this time a black Tesla sporting the mission-specific custom license plate that read “READY4IT.”

The ride to the pad, though, drove through KSC but didn’t stop at the normal destination, but instead the caravan of support vehicles continued pas Launch Complex 39-A and traveled over the bridge to the nearby Cape Canaveral.

They got to christen the white room at the top of the new launch tower, becoming the first to write their names on the wall under a SpaceX logo. KSC’s white room in comparison, is getting crowded, now with 54 signatures from the 14 previous Crew Dragon missions flown with humans since May 2000.

With two empty seats, Dragon flew up with mass simulators to equal the normal flight weight.

The Crew-9 patch for the mission was adjusted to remove the original four names slated to fly.

“As we have modified this mission to save two seats for Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on the downhill, we removed the names from the patch,” Cardman said. “This was a gesture too. It’s not just the people on the rocket who are a part of this mission. It takes an entire team too, including my crewmate, Stephanie Wilson, myself, and all of the people who have gotten Nick and Alexander ready for this launch today.”

Wilson was supposed to have been the ISS commander, which would have made her the first Black woman to hold the role.

Instead command of the ISS went to Williams who took on the duties during a ceremony last week that marked the end of Expedition 71 and beginning of Expedition 72 aboard the station that has had continuous human presence for nearly 24 years.

The Starliner flight marked Williams’ third visit to the ISS for what was supposed to be an eight-day stay, but will end up being more than eight months.

“We’ve got a ride home, and you know, we’re looking forward to the next couple months, and doing a lot of stuff for the International Space Station,” she said in a recent interview.

Crew-9’s arrival will grow the station’s population to 11, but just for a short time. The four members of Crew-8, who have been on board since March, will remain on the station during a handover period of five to seven days before they ride their Crew Dragon Endeavour home for a splashdown return off the coast of Florida.

Cardman gave her thoughts about being left behind.

“It’s complex, but so is spaceflight,” Cardman said about the loss of her ride to space, but she’s happy NASA made the call to keep Starliner’s astronauts safe. “I personally think it’s a good decision to always prioritize safety of the crew members.”

Hague earlier this week praised his two crewmates that will have to wait for their next flight.

“This mission is bigger than any one crew. It’s bigger than any one person, and so we’ve got a dynamic challenge ahead of us,” Hague said. “I’ve never felt closer to my crewmates. You know that bond that you’ve built, you know that we built for the better part of a year and a half with Zena and Stephanie is as strong as ever, as they’re working side by side with us, helping, getting us ready.”

The mission is slated to work through more than 200 science, technology and research experiments during the remaining five months before the flight home.

Crew Dragon Freedom made its fourth trip to space having flown first on the Crew-4 mission in 2022 followed by the Axiom Space Ax-2 and Ax-3 commercial missions, all having docked to the ISS.

SpaceX remains the only certified provider for ferry service to the International Space Station from the U.S. as Boeing’s Starliner has faced years of hurdles to complete its first crewed flight test.

This is only the second time Dragon has flown with just two crew. Hague this week said breaking up those responsibilities has been a challenge.

“Some of that is how you respond to emergencies,” he said. “A lot of that we practice over and over. How do I respond to a potential fire? How would I respond to a potential depressurization event?”

He said the crew has to respond reflexively, and everyone already understands their role and responsibility.

“So we’ve in the past three weeks had to adapt that response and ingrain that response so that we’re ready,” he said. “If you know something unfortunately like that would happen, we’re going to be able to keep ourselves safe.”

Hague said he’s anxious to introduce Williams and Wilmore to their ride home.

“That’s going to be top priority when we get there, and while we have a period of handover the first week or so is having that dedicated time to help them understand what they’re going to need to do to operate as part of the Crew-9 crew,” he said.

Even though they were trained on Starliner, the fact they are test pilots and his previous opportunities to work alongside them at NASA gives his confidence.

“We know each other and we’re professionals, and we step up and do what’s asked of us, so I’m looking forward to working with them, and I think we’re going to pull together without a problem,” he said.