The launch of Crew-9 is underway and is set to launch at 1:17 P.M. ET from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
SpaceX Crew-9 will carry NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov to the ISS for a six month stay in space. The mission will relieve Crew-8, which launched back in March.
Crew-9 will also have the job of returning the crew of Starliner CFT, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, since NASA found Starliner not suitable for crewed return. For now, they have been attached to a contingency return plan with Crew-8, but ideally NASA would like them to use Crew-9’s spare seats.
This mission is SpaceX’s first human spaceflight mission from SLC-40 and the first to have a Russian cosmonaut at the controls of an American spacecraft.
Weather is a concern for today’s launch, but that won’t be decided until closer to T-0.
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