https://t.co/j1kQZPtsAB— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 24, 2024 Just over two minutes after the launch, the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket completed ignition and broke away from the rocket's second stage touching down at Cape Canaveral's Landing Zone 1. The Falcon 9 launch from Pad 40 is the first for a human spaceflight. Crews riding on SpaceX's Dragon typically take off from Kennedy Space Center's Pad 39A but work is being done on that location. The launch was delayed from Thursday because of Hurricane Helene's high winds rain in the area. The capsule is expected to arrive at the ISS at about 5:30 p.m. ET Sunday and spend six months aboard the space station. Advertisement This marks the second space flight to the ISS for Hague, the mission's commander and a colonel in the U.S. Space Force. It marks the first flight to space for Gorbunov. At the end of August, NASA confirmed it was reducing the size of the crew from four to two The space agency made the decision to accommodate the return of the stranded astronauts of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. The Boeing spacecraft's first manned mission ended in disappointment for astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams after a weeklong test flight. They are now scheduled to return to Earth in February. Wilmore and Williams arrived at the orbiting observatory June 6.