NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 Mission: Ready for Launch | International Space Station

NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 Mission: Ready for Launch | International Space Station

Crew-9 Mission Commander & Pilot: NASA Astronaut Nick Hague

Crew-9 Mission Specialist & Roscosmos Cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov of Russia

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company's Dragon spacecraft onboard is seen on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 40 ahead of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Mission launch at Cape Canaveral in Florida

NASA's Kennedy Space Center: Crew-9 Launch countdown underway

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company's Dragon spacecraft onboard is seen on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 40 during a brief static fire test ahead of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Mission launch at Cape Canaveral in Florida

NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 Mission Emblem

Two SpaceX Crew-9 crewmates are counting down to a Saturday launch, weather permitting, and beginning a five-month mission aboard the International Space Station. 

Commander Nick Hague of NASA and Mission Specialist Aleksandr Gorbunov of Roscosmos (Russia) are at Kennedy Space Center in Florida preparing for their liftoff aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft targeted for no earlier than 1:17 p.m. EDT on Saturday, September 28, 2024 after the impact of Hurricane Helene. 

The duo plan to ride Dragon in low Earth orbit for a day before docking to the Harmony module’s forward port at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday. Hague and Gorbunov will open the hatch about an hour-and-a-half later and join Expedition 72 before returning to Earth in February 2025. 

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.

Image Credits: NASA/SpaceX

Image Release Dates: Sept. 24-28, 2024

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