SpaceX Launches Crew-9 Mission, Ready To Pick Up Starliner Crew Trapped At Space Station

NASA's Crew-9 launch (photo: dock. NASA)

JAKARTA SpaceX launched the Crew-9 mission on Sunday, September 29 at around 00.17 WIB. On the mission, SpaceX flew a Dragon spacecraft carrying NASA and Russian astronauts.

This aircraft was driven using a Falcon 9 rocket from the Space Launch Complex-40 on the Cape Canaveral Space Station. Crew-9 was the first human space flight mission to be launched from the runway.

There are two astronauts who are part of the Crew-9 mission, namely NASA Astronaut Nick Hague and Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) Cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. Supposedly, this mission brought four astronauts, but the number was reduced due to Starliner's problems.

Dragon planes carrying Hague and Gorbunov arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) at 4.30 WIB. Dragon immediately docked automatically to a port facing the Harmony module.

Now, Hague and Gorbunov have joined the Expedition 72 team on the ISS in various studies. They will stay for five months to conduct more than 200 scientific investigations, one of which is a study on the vision of astronauts on missions.

"This mission requires a lot of operational flexibility and planning. I congratulate the entire team on today's successful launch, and good luck to Nick and Aleksandr as they head for the space station," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

The NASA official explained that the astronaut's flight mission to the ISS is a form of commercial partnership. With the launch of Crew-9 which involved Russia, Nelson stated that NASA had successfully carried out safe and professional flight operations.

Hague and Gorbunov are expected to return to Earth in February next year, alongside NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams who are part of the Starliner mission. The two astronauts have been stuck for several months on the ISS due to a leak problem on the plane