SpaceX capsule set to bring home Boeing Starliner astronauts prepares to arrive at space station
- by CNN on MSN.com
- Sep 29, 2024
- 0 Comments
- 0 Likes Flag 0 Of 5
âAfter todayâs successful launch of Crew-9, Falcon 9âs second stage was disposed in the ocean as planned, but experienced an off-nominal deorbit burn,â the company shared in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. âAs a result, the second stage safely landed in the ocean, but outside of the targeted area.â
SpaceX indicated it would pause flights using Falcon 9 â the worldâs most frequently launched rocket â as it explored the anomaly. âWe will resume launching after we better understand root cause,â the company said in the X post.
CNN has reached out to the Federal Aviation Administration for comment.
Meanwhile, Crew-9âs SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule has spent about one day traveling through orbit as it prepares to dock with the International Space Station. Once safely attached to one of the stationâs docking ports, the spacecraft will open its hatch, allowing Hague and Gorbunov to join the other astronauts already on board the orbiting laboratory.
Months in space
The original crew of NASAâs SpaceX Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station â including (from left), Stephanie Wilson, Nick Hague, Aleksandr Gorbunov of Roscosmos and Zena Cardman â poses for a group photo in their flight suits at SpaceXâs new Dragon refurbishing facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Cardman and Wilson lost their spots on the mission to make room for Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore.
SpaceX/NASA
Together, Hague, Williams, Wilmore and Gorbunov will complete SpaceXâs Crew-9 team. The group will spend about five months on board the space station before returning home no earlier than February.
Williams and Wilmore first traveled to the International Space Station in early June aboard a Boeing Starliner spacecraft for what was expected to be a weeklong test mission.
But issues with helium leaks and malfunctioning thrusters left engineers scrambling to figure out what went wrong â and NASA ultimately decided the Starlinerâs problems were not well enough understood for the space agency to allow Williams and Wilmore back on board.
The Starliner instead flew home empty on September 6.
After deciding not to return Williams and Wilmore to Earth on the Starliner, NASA opted instead to rearrange SpaceXâs flight plans, booting two other astronauts â spaceflight veteran Stephanie Wilson and Zena Cardman, who was set to make her first trip to space â off the Crew-9 mission to make room for the Starliner team.
But that meant Williams and Wilmore would have to fulfill the duties of the original Crew-9 staff, taking up monthsâ worth of routine work on the space station before their return trip.
Both Williams and Wilmore â veterans of earlier missions to the space station â have said they easily adjusted to the idea of staying in space until next year, with Williams noting the microgravity environment is her âhappy place.â
Rounding out the staff currently on board the International Space Station are NASAâs Don Pettit and Aleksey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner of the Russian space agency Roscosmos. The three arrived at the space station aboard a Russian Soyuz vehicle on September 11.
Pettit and Gorbunov rode aboard spacecraft developed outside their home countries as part of a seat-swapping agreement between NASA and its Russian counterpart.
Ad Feedback
Please first to comment
Related Post
Stay Connected
Tweets by elonmuskTo get the latest tweets please make sure you are logged in on X on this browser.
Sponsored
Popular Post
Tesla: Buy This Dip, Energy Growth And Margin Recovery Are Vastly Underappreciated
28 ViewsJul 29 ,2024