NASA’s next crew mission, the SpaceX Crew-9, from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, has been delayed by two days. The Dragon spacecraft is supposed to carry Nasa astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov to the International Space Station (ISS) for a mission that spans over five months.
This is a critical mission for both Nasa and SpaceX because this will also be used to bring back veteran astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore from the ISS. The two astronauts reached the space station on a Boeing’s Starliner. This was recently sent back to Earth empty due to several technical challenges that could put the lives of the astronauts at risk had they returned in it.
Static fire test of Falcon 9 complete. Targeting Saturday, September 28 for launch of Crew-9 to the @space_station →
Teams will lower and roll Falcon 9 and Dragon back to the hangar at pad 40 tonight due to Tropical Storm Helene’s unfavorable impact on…
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 25, 2024
This is also the first human spaceflight mission to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The delay is due to “Tropical Storm Helene’s unfavourable impact on weather conditions at the launch site on Thursday.”
SpaceX is currently targeting September 28 for the launch with a backup opportunity available on September 29.
The SpaceX Crew-9 mission was originally supposed to carry four astronauts to the ISS. However, as Williams and Wilmore were stuck at the space station, the mission had to drop two of the astronauts to make space for them.
As the Crew-9 mission will last for over five months, where astronauts will conduct over 200 scientific experiments and technology demonstrations, Williams and Wilmore along with Nick and Aleksandr will fly back to Earth, possibly in February 2025.
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