SpaceX on Saturday launched a Falcon rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Saturday with two crew members on board to ship the Dragon capsule to the Worldwide House Station that can carry again the astronauts stranded by their troubled Boeing Starliner subsequent 12 months.
In June, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams launched on the Starliner, which suffered thruster issues and helium leaks, leaving the area company to conclude returning them to Earth within the capsule after what was imagined to be an eight-day mission was too dangerous.
The crewless Starliner ultimately landed in New Mexico earlier this month, whereas Wilmore and Williams remained on the area station.
NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov launched from the Kennedy House Middle on Saturday’s mission with two empty seats on Dragon that can carry Wilmore and Williams house in February.
BOEING STARLINER UNDOCKS FROM SPACE STATION, HEADS BACK TO EARTH UNMANNED AS CREW STAYS BEHIND
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a crew of two lifts off from launch pad 40 on the Kennedy House Middle in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday. (AP Picture/John Raoux)
Two astronauts had been reduce from the SpaceX mission to make room for Wilmore and Williams.
As soon as Hague and Gorbunov arrive on the area station Sunday afternoon, 4 different astronauts who had been delayed a month by Starliner’s issues will return to Earth in their very own SpaceX capsule.
“There’s always something that is changing,” Hague mentioned earlier than the launch of the evolving nature of area missions. “Maybe this time it’s been a little more visible to the public.”
NASA astronaut Nick Hague, proper, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov go away the Operations and Checkout constructing for a visit to the launch pad 40 at Kennedy House Middle in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday. (AP Picture/Chris O’Mearaj)
NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy known as “human spaceflight” “complicated and dynamic” at a post-launch information convention Saturday.
“What a fabulous day it was today,” she mentioned. “We only have two crew members instead of four. A crew member change is not a small thing.”
She added that “it was the right thing to do.”
NASA ASTRONAUT SAYS STARLINER CREW LIKELY TO CHANGE EXERCISE ROUTINE DURING EXTENDED ISS STAY
Melroy mentioned the 2 astronauts who had been reduce from the mission had been there to emotionally assist Hague and Gorbunov on the launch.
NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, each Expedition 71 Flight Engineers, make pizza aboard the Worldwide House Station’s galley positioned contained in the Unity module on Sept. 9. (NASA by way of AP)
“The International Space Station is unbelievable, it’s a really special place,” she added, saying it “allows people to “look past gravity” and to build technologies to explore the whole solar system.
After they reach the space station, Hague and Gorbunov will be doing hundreds of “thrilling experiments,” including studying human cells and blood clotting.
Dana Hutcherson, deputy program manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said he was “happy to report Nick and Aleksandr are safely in orbit” after an “extremely easy” launch and are expected to land at the space station around 5:30 p.m. ET Sunday.
Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, left, and NASA astronaut Nick Hague travel inside a SpaceX capsule en route to the International Space Station after launching from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday. (NASA via AP)
“The crew is getting out of their fits right now,” Hutcherson said, adding that Gorbunov and Hague would be getting some rest and a meal in the capsule before preparing for docking operations.”
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After docking on the ISS, they’re anticipated to have a welcome ceremony.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
