NASA SpaceX Crew-9 mission gears up for takeoff, set to ‘rescue’ Sunita Williams from ISS - All you need to know

NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will head to the International Space Station next week as part of a ‘rescue’ mission. The spacecraft is slated to return in February 2025 with with Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams finally on board.

“The crew will lift off from Launch Complex 40 from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft. Hague and Gorbonov will become members of the Expedition 72 crew aboard the station,” a press note from the space agency explained recently.

This will be the ninth crew rotation mission to the ISS with SpaceX under the NASA Commercial Crew Program. The Elon Musk-led company has so far has sent nine crewed flights to space for NASA as well as some commercial missions.

Nick Hague will serve as commander for Crew-9 with Gorbunov as mission specialist on board the reduced two-crew member flight. The spacecraft will dock at the ISS for about six months — as the duo join Wilmore and Williams as well as three other astronauts in conducting scientific research.

According to the mission overview shared by NASA, Dragon will accelerate to approximately 17,500 mph to dock with the space station after liftoff. They will be welcomed on board by Expedition 71 before conducting several days of handover activities with the departing astronauts of the NASA-SpaceX Crew-8 mission.

Crew-9 will welcome two Dragon spacecraft — including NASA’s SpaceX’s 31st commercial resupply services mission and NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 — and two Roscosmos-led cargo deliveries on Progress 90 and 91 during their stay.