{"id":10006,"date":"2024-09-27T23:05:07","date_gmt":"2024-09-27T15:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-launches-two-to-space-station-giving-starliner-astronauts-a-ride-home-in-february\/"},"modified":"2024-09-27T23:05:07","modified_gmt":"2024-09-27T15:05:07","slug":"spacex-launches-two-to-space-station-giving-starliner-astronauts-a-ride-home-in-february","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-launches-two-to-space-station-giving-starliner-astronauts-a-ride-home-in-february\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX launches two to space station, giving Starliner astronauts a ride home in February"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_67475\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-67475\" style=\"width: 876px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-67475\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/20240928_Crew-9_launch_MC-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"876\" height=\"584\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/20240928_Crew-9_launch_MC-1.jpg 876w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/20240928_Crew-9_launch_MC-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/20240928_Crew-9_launch_MC-1-678x452.jpg 678w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/20240928_Crew-9_launch_MC-1-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 876px) 100vw, 876px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-67475\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A SpaceX Crew Dragon atop a Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) for the first time on the Crew-9 mission. Image: Michael Cain\/Spaceflight Now<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>SpaceX launched a reduced two-man crew on a flight to the International Space Station Saturday, along with supplies and a pair of empty seats for two Starliner astronauts waiting to hitch a ride home in February after an unexpected eight-and-a-half-month stay in orbit.<\/p>\n<p>Running two days late because of high winds, rain and clouds spawned by Hurricane Helene, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket roared to life and blasted off from pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 1:17 p.m. EDT, climbing away on a northeasterly trajectory directly into the plane of the space station\u2019s orbit.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7eKnPK5RswM?si=Yf58sgvJT8QEfUeZ\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Monitoring the automated ascent from inside the Crew Dragon \u201cFreedom\u201d were commander Nick Hague, a veteran NASA astronaut, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov, making his first flight.<\/p>\n<p>Crew Dragons normally launch with four crew members, but two Crew 9 astronauts \u2014 Stephanie Wilson and Zena Cardman, the original commander \u2014 were removed from the flight in August to free up seats that will be used by Starliner commander Barry \u201cButch\u201d Wilmore and pilot Sunita Williams when the Crew 9 Dragon returns to Earth in February.<\/p>\n<p>Saturday\u2019s launch was the first piloted space flight from pad 40 and the first ever from the Space Force station for SpaceX, which launched 14 previous Crew Dragon missions from historic pad 39A at the nearby Kennedy Space Center.<\/p>\n<p>After boosting the Falcon 9 out of the dense lower atmosphere, the first stage, making its second flight, flew itself back to landing at the Space Force station seven minutes and 40 seconds after liftoff.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_67476\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-67476\" style=\"width: 876px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-67476\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/20240928_Crew-9_booster_landing_MC-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"876\" height=\"584\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/20240928_Crew-9_booster_landing_MC-1.jpg 876w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/20240928_Crew-9_booster_landing_MC-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/20240928_Crew-9_booster_landing_MC-1-678x452.jpg 678w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/20240928_Crew-9_booster_landing_MC-1-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 876px) 100vw, 876px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-67476\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting the Crew-9 mission, tail number B1085 in the SpaceX fleet, returning for a touchdown at Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Image: Michael Cain\/Spaceflight Now<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Four-and-a-half minutes after that, the Crew Dragon was released from the rocket\u2019s second stage to fly on its own, kicking off a 28-hour rendezvous with the International Space Station. If all goes well, the spacecraft will dock at the lab\u2019s forward port at 5:30 p.m. Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Standing by to welcome Hague and Gorbunov aboard are Wilmore and Williams, now serving as commander of the space station, along with Soyuz MS-26\/72S commander Aleksey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner and NASA astronaut Don Pettit.<\/p>\n<p>Hague, Gorbunov, Wilmore and Williams will take the places of Crew 8 commander Matthew Dominick, Mike Barratt, Jeanette Epps and cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin when they return to Earth around Oct. 7 to wrap up a 217-day stay in space.<\/p>\n<p>Along with bringing Hague and Gorbunov to the station, the Crew Dragon also was packed with clothing and supplies for Wilmore and Williams, who were launched June 5 on the Starliner\u2019s first piloted test flight.<\/p>\n<p>The mission initially expected to last eight to 10 days, but multiple helium leaks in the Starliner\u2019s propulsion system, along with degraded thrust in five maneuvering jets, eventually led to a NASA decision to bring the spacecraft down earlier this month without its crew.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, NASA managers opted to launch the Crew 9 Dragon with just two of its original crew members to enable the ship to bring Wilmore and Williams back to Earth at the end of its mission in February. By the time they land aboard the Crew 9 capsule around Feb. 22, they will have logged more than 262 days in space.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere have been a lot of changes to our particular crew, but the mission really hasn\u2019t changed,\u201d Hague said. \u201cThe mission hasn\u2019t changed for two-and-a-half decades. It\u2019s to get up to the station and do do research, and that mission is bigger than any one crew.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_67477\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-67477\" style=\"width: 876px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-67477\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/20240928_Dragon_separation.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"876\" height=\"493\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/20240928_Dragon_separation.jpg 876w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/20240928_Dragon_separation-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/20240928_Dragon_separation-678x381.jpg 678w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/20240928_Dragon_separation-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 876px) 100vw, 876px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-67477\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A camera on the second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket captured a spectacular view of the Crew Dragon floating away against the limb of the Earth moments after reaching orbit. If all goes well, the spacecraft will catch up with the International Space Station Sunday afternoon and move in for docking at the lab\u2019s forward port around 5:30 p.m. EDT. Image: NASA\/SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But that doesn\u2019t mean the transition from four crew members to two, and his own transition from pilot to mission commander, is not without its challenges. Likewise, Wilmore and Williams must learn the ins and outs of flying aboard a Crew Dragon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re going to launch as a two-person crew, and then we\u2019re going to land as a four-person crew,\u201d Hague said. \u201cAnd one of the unique challenges of that is, how do we integrate the other two crew members into the Dragon operations when they\u2019ve had very minimal Dragon training before they launched?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe teams on the ground have helped not only get us ready, but they\u2019ve already started helping Butch and Suni train to understand what they\u2019re going to need to do inside of inside of the Dragon. That\u2019s going to be top priority when we get there, (helping) them understand what they\u2019re going to need to do to operate as part of the Crew 9 crew.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hague is a Space Force colonel, a former F-16 test pilot and combat veteran who logged 203 days in space on an earlier mission. He also went through a dramatic in-flight abort during launch aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in 2018. His range of experience presumably played a major role in NASA\u2019s decision to move him into the commander\u2019s seat for the revised mission.<\/p>\n<p>Gorbunov kept his seat aboard the Crew 9 Dragon under a contract between NASA and Roscosmos, the Russian federal space agency, in which three-seat Russian Soyuz spacecraft carry one NASA astronaut on each flight to the ISS and a cosmonaut launches on each four-seat Crew Dragon.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_67466\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-67466\" style=\"width: 876px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-67466\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/20240927_dry_dress1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"876\" height=\"570\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/20240927_dry_dress1.jpg 876w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/20240927_dry_dress1-300x195.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/20240927_dry_dress1-678x441.jpg 678w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/20240927_dry_dress1-768x500.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 876px) 100vw, 876px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-67466\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov (left) will assist commander Nick Hague (right) during the Crew 9\u2019s climb to space. The two empty seats will be used by Starliner commander Barry \u201cButch\u201d Wilmore and pilot Sunita Williams when all four return to Earth next February. Image: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>That ensures each country always has at least one crew member on board the lab even if an emergency forces one ferry ship and its crew to make an unplanned return to Earth. Gorbunov is not trained to serve as a Crew Dragon pilot, but he will be sitting in the pilot\u2019s seat during launch to assist Hague.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEssentially, we\u2019re flying without a pilot, and so fundamentally, the commander is responsible for keeping the crew safe, keeping the vehicle safe and making sure we get the mission done,\u201d Hague said. \u201cAnd so those responsibilities haven\u2019t changed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlex is going to be working to support me during all the dynamic phases of flight and provide me with the extra set of eyes, the extra set of hands that I would need and that I would leverage if I had a pilot sitting next to me. So in that way, it\u2019s not very different.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A SpaceX Crew Dragon atop a Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) for the first time on the Crew-9 mission. Image: Michael Cain\/Spaceflight Now SpaceX launched a reduced two-man crew on a flight to the International Space Station Saturday, along with supplies and a pair of empty seats for two [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1162,1163,1164,822,717,190,1165,316],"class_list":["post-10006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-alexandr-gorbunov","tag-butch-wilmore","tag-crew-9","tag-cst-100-starliner-crew-flight-test","tag-international-space-station","tag-nasa","tag-nick-hague","tag-spacex"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10006"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10006\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}