How to watch SpaceX, NASA launch that will bring Starliner astronauts home in 2025

How to watch SpaceX, NASA launch that will bring Starliner astronauts home in 2025 Officials had been planning a launch window around the arrival of Hurricane Helene, which made landfall Thursday night in Florida. NASA and SpaceX are still targeting a Saturday launch for the Crew-9 mission, whose astronauts will head to orbit aboard a Dragon spacecraft that will bring the Starliner crew back to Earth next year. The storm, the first known Category 4 storm to ever hit the Big Bend coast, was powerful enough to still send strong winds and heavy rain to the Cape Canaveral area where NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is located. The two Crew-9 astronauts, Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov, arrived last Saturday at the space center to begin preparations for the imminent launch, which will take place at the neighboring Space Force Station. The Dragon is scheduled to launch atop a Falcon 9 rocket no earlier than 1:17 p.m. EDT Saturday from Space Launch Complex-40, NASA officials confirmed Friday during a news conference. The mission, which was initially set for Aug. 18, was delayed for more than a month while NASA and Boeing officials worked to figure out what to do about the troubled Starliner spacecraft taking up the Dragon’s docking port. But Helene threw a new wrench into the plans, forcing NASA and SpaceX to scuttle the launch another three times this week. How to watch the Crew-9 mission launch NASA will provide coverage of the launch, the subsequent docking and the activities that precede the mission. On launch day, coverage begins at 9:10 a.m. EDT on NASA+ and the space agency’s website. Following the ascent, NASA will switch to audio only before coverage resumes at 3:30 p.m. Sunday when the Dragon prepares to dock and the hatch opens to welcome the astronauts aboard the station. The Crew-9 astronauts will now not only relieve Crew-8, whose team have been at the space station since March, but will also arrive on the vehicle that will bring home Starliner astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore. When Williams and Wilmore arrived on June 6 at the space station, engineers discovered that the Starliner craft had experienced multiple helium leaks and had issues with its propulsion system prompting NASA to eventually make the call to send the vehicle back to Earth without its crew. The Starliner astronauts will now instead remain at the space station until February, when they will return with the Crew-9 team on the Dragon. Meet the Crew-9 astronauts For that reason, NASA and SpaceX will not be able to send a full contingent of four Crew-9 astronauts. Here are the two astronauts heading into orbit: NASA astronaut Nick Hague , of Belleville, Kansas, will serve as crew commander, making this his third launch and second mission to the space station. Selected as a NASA astronaut in 2013, Hague, also an active-duty colonel in the U.S. Space Force, has spent 203 days in space and conducted three spacewalks. , of Belleville, Kansas, will serve as crew commander, making this his third launch and second mission to the space station. Selected as a NASA astronaut in 2013, Hague, also an active-duty colonel in the U.S. Space Force, has spent 203 days in space and conducted three spacewalks. NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson, previously announced as crewmates for the mission, are eligible for reassignment on a future mission, NASA said. – This Summarize was created by Neural News AI (V1). Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/09/28/spacex-nasa-crew-9-launch-how-watch-starliner-astronauts/75394418007/