1 of 4 | The space travel suit of commander Nick Hague sits empty as he and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov prepare to board the International Space Station. The Crew 9 Dragon carrying the pair docked with the ISS Sunday. (Courtesy of MASA).
The Dragon Crew 9 capsule has docked with the International Space Station, carrying a U.S. astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut. The craft will bring home two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station.
“Visors down,” said NASA commander and U.S. Space Force colonel Nick Hauge. “We are go for docking,” he added when the module was a few feet from the ISS. Advertisement
“Crew 9 has arrived at the International Space Station. Docking is complete.” mission control in Houston said moments later, at 5:30 pm EDT.
The crew, Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, is scheduled to float through a hatch where the two craft are connected and enter the ISS at about 6:30 p.m. EDT. This is Hague’s second trip to the ISS, Gorbunov’s first.
This mission was originally scheduled to carry four space travelers, but was reduced to two when the Boeing Starliner, which launched in June, was deemed not safe enough to bring NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore back to Earth. Their 5 day mission was suddenly extended to 5 months.
They will become part of the SpaceX Crew 9, and that module is scheduled to bring them home in February. Advertisement
Starliner returned uncrewed to Earth safely earlier this month.
The Crew 9 Dragon was launched on Saturday from Cape Canaveral in Florida. But just 11 hours after the launch, SpaceX announced it would suspend future launches until it could determine the cause of operational problems with Crew 9’s second stage rocket.
“After today’s successful launch of Crew-9, Falcon 9’s second stage was disposed in the ocean as planned, but experienced an off-nominal deorbit burn. As a result, the second stage safely landed in the ocean, but outside of the targeted area. We will resume launching after we better understand root cause,” SpaceX posted on X.
The Crew 9 team will enter the ISS through a vestibule after teams in the capsule and on the space station complete a series of procedural protocols. The teams are schedule to hold welcoming ceremonies as they greet each other.
