USA TODAY Hague and Gorbunov boarded the SpaceX Dragon capsule for a Saturday afternoon launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida bound for the International Space Station. Hague and Gorbunov were all smiles when the capsule's hatch opened and entered the space station Sunday evening to greet the outgoing members of Expedition 71. Hague and Gorbunov will now not only to relieve Crew-8, but have arrived on the vehicle that is intended to at long last bring home the Starliner astronauts. Though the launch of the Crew-9 mission mostly went off without a hitch Saturday, SpaceX reported one issue with the Falcon 9 rocket after it broke away from the rocket. After the vehicle that brought them to space departed for Earth without them, the two Boeing Starliner astronauts finally got an up-close look at the spacecraft that will bring them home next year. The SpaceX Dragon capsule, selected by NASA to transport astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore back to Earth, arrived Sunday at the International Space Station. On board the vehicle were two spacefarers, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, who are part of the Crew-9 mission. Though its the ninth crew rotation mission to the station, it's the first without a full contingent of four astronauts. That's because when the Boeing Starliner, which NASA deemed unsafe for a crew, undocked earlier in September from the space station, Wilmore and Williams were not aboard. Instead, Hague and Gorbunov arrived on a Dragon with two empty seats reserved for the Starliner astronauts when the Crew-9 mission concludes in February and the group returns to Earth. The launch of the Crew-9 mission mostly went off without a hitch Saturday, save for one issue with the Falcon 9 rocket after it broke away from the capsule. As a result, SpaceX, which revealed the trouble via social media site X, is voluntarily suspending Falcon 9 launches for the time being. SpaceX faces $633,000 fine from FAA over alleged launch violations: Musk plans to sue "I congratulate the entire team on a successful launch today, and godspeed to Nick and Aleksandr,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement. “Our NASA wizards and our commercial and international partners have shown once again the success that comes from working together and adapting to changing circumstances without sacrificing the safe and professional operations of the International Space Station.” Starliner astronauts greet crew as SpaceX Dragon docks at space station Hague and Gorbunov were all smiles when the capsule's hatch opened and they entered the space station Sunday evening to greet the outgoing members of Expedition 71. Ahead of the spacefarers are several days of handover activities with the departing astronauts of the SpaceX Crew-8 mission, NASA said. Hague and Gorbunov, along with Starliner astronauts Wilmore and Williams, are now part of Expedition 72 and will spend the next five months conducting science experiments and performing station maintenance. Much of it will be to prepare for human exploration deep into the cosmos as NASA eyes future lunar missions under its Artemis program. "I know it's going to be a really amazing expedition so I'm really looking forward to getting to work up here," Hague, also an active-duty colonel in the U.S. Space Force, said shortly after arrival in a welcome video shared by NASA. Starliner astronauts will return home with Crew-9 next year Hague and Gorbunov will now not only relieve Crew-8, whose team has been at the space station since March, but have arrived on the vehicle that is intended to at long last bring home the Starliner astronauts. Wilmore and Williams in June flew to the station for the inaugural crewed test flight of the Starliner for what was supposed to be a 10-day stay. When the NASA astronauts arrived at the space station, engineers discovered that the Starliner craft had experienced multiple helium leaks and had issues with its propulsion system –prompting NASA to eventually make the call to send the vehicle back to Earth without its crew.