The latest SpaceX Crew 9 mission is carrying two astronauts instead of four to bring both stranded members of NASA, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, back to Earth.
SpaceX launched a mission on Saturday to bring home two astronauts, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore stranded aboard the International Space Station (ISS) after Boeing’s spacecraft failed to return them earlier this month due to safety concerns. The latest SpaceX Crew 9 mission is carrying two astronauts instead of four to bring both stranded members of NASA back to Earth.
The Crew Dragon capsule, carrying NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov, lifted off from Cape Canaveral. Their mission is to retrieve NASA’s Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, who were left without a ride home when Boeing’s Starliner experienced thruster issues and helium leaks. The two astronauts will remain on the ISS until February 2024, when they are expected to return on the SpaceX capsule.
Wilmore and Williams originally expected to spend just a week in space as part of Boeing’s first crewed Starliner flight, launched in June. However, after Boeing’s Starliner was deemed too risky by NASA following a series of technical problems, their return was delayed. By the time they come home, they will have logged more than eight months in space.
NASA officials said there was no way to bring the astronauts back earlier without disrupting other planned missions. As a result, NASA reduced the size of SpaceX’s newly launched crew to leave two empty seats for Wilmore and Williams on the return journey.
Sunita Williams has since taken command of the ISS, which will soon return to its usual crew size of seven. Hague and Gorbunov’s arrival will allow the four astronauts currently on board, who have been there since March, to return to Earth in their own SpaceX capsule. Their departure was delayed due to the Starliner issues.
Boeing has faced a series of setbacks with its Starliner spacecraft, including a failed uncrewed test flight in 2019. Despite multiple attempts to address the issues, NASA ultimately chose SpaceX to handle the rescue mission. Boeing’s most recent Starliner landed safely in New Mexico on 6 September after returning to Earth without astronauts.