On the afternoon of Saturday, September 28, 2024, SpaceX successfully launched NASA’s Crew-9 mission aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Liftoff occurred at 1:17 PM EDT, with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov aboard the Dragon spacecraft, Freedom, on a mission to the International Space Station (ISS). This launch was the first crewed mission to use the newly installed crew access arm at Space Launch Complex 40.
The primary objective of Crew-9 is to transport Hague and Gorbunov to the ISS, where they will conduct scientific research and participate in station maintenance for approximately five months. Additionally, this mission is crucial as it will bring back NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have been on the ISS since June due to a lack of confidence in Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which return to Earth empty out of an abundance of caution by NASA officials.
