SpaceX mission to retrieve stranded astronauts docks at ISS
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov (left) and Nasa astronaut Nick Hague at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, before their flight on Sept 28.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
Follow topic:
WASHINGTON – The SpaceX crew that will ferry back two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) docked with the orbiting laboratory Sept 29, a live stream of the mission showed.
The Falcon 9 rocket took off at 1.17pm local time from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Sept 28, with the Crew-9 mission on a Dragon spacecraft making contact with the ISS at 5.30pm.
After docking was completed, Nasa astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov boarded the station just after 7pm, embracing their floating colleagues on the space station.
“What a fabulous day it was today,” Nasa deputy administrator Pam Melroy said at a news conference.
When Mr Hauge and Mr Gorbunov return from the space station in February, they will bring back two space veterans – Mr Butch Wilmore and Ms Suni Williams – whose stay on the ISS was prolonged by months due to problems with their Boeing-designed Starliner spacecraft.
The newly developed Starliner was making its first crewed flight when it delivered Mr Wilmore and Ms Williams to the ISS in June.
They were supposed to be there for only an eight-day stay, but after problems with the Starliner’s propulsion system emerged during the flight there, Nasa was forced to weigh a radical change in plans.
After weeks of intensive tests on the Starliner’s reliability, the space agency finally decided to return it to earth without its crew, and to bring the two stranded astronauts back home on the SpaceX mission Crew-9.
The Falcon 9 rocket carrying Nasa astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov lifting off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Sept 28.
PHOTO: AFP
SpaceX, the private company founded by billionaire Elon Musk, has been flying regular missions every six months to allow the rotation of ISS crews.
But the launch of Crew-9 was postponed from mid-August to late September to give Nasa experts more time to evaluate the reliability of the Starliner and decide how to proceed.
It was then delayed a few more days by the destructive passage of Hurricane Helene,
In total, Mr Hague and Mr Gorbunov will spend some five months on the ISS; Mr Wilmore and Ms Williams, eight months.
In all, Crew-9 will conduct some 200 scientific experiments. AFP
