SpaceX launches five-month mission to rescue two astronauts stuck in space
- by Australian Broadcasting Corporation
- Sep 28, 2024
- 0 Comments
- 0 Likes Flag 0 Of 5
Sun 29 Sep 2024 at 1:30am
Display caption Photo shows A middle aged white man and a woman with dark curly hair pose by a round port door inside a space station
A pair of US astronauts who should have been back on Earth weeks ago say they are confident that the problem-plagued Boeing Starliner capsule they rode up on can return them safely.
Moments before lift-off, Mr Hague paid tribute to his two colleagues left behind: "Unbreakable. We did it together."
Once in orbit, he called it a "sweet ride" and thanked everyone who made it possible.
Earlier, Mr Hague acknowledged the challenges of launching with half a crew and returning with two astronauts trained on another spacecraft.
"We've got a dynamic challenge ahead of us," Mr Hague said after arriving from Houston last weekend.
"We know each other and we're professionals and we step up and do what's asked of us."
SpaceX has long been the leader in NASA's commercial crew program, established as the space shuttles were retiring more than a decade ago. SpaceX beat Boeing in delivering astronauts to the space station in 2020, and it is now up to 10 crew flights for NASA.
Boeing has struggled with a variety of issues over the years, repeating a Starliner test flight with no one on board after the first one veered off course.
Loading...
The Starliner that left Mr Wilmore and Ms Williams in space landed without any issues in the New Mexico desert on September 6, and has since returned to Kennedy Space Center.
A week ago, Boeing's defence and space chief was replaced.
Delayed by Hurricane Helene pounding Florida, the latest SpaceX lift-off marked the first for astronauts from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
SpaceX took over the old Titan rocket pad nearly two decades ago and used it for satellite and station cargo launches, while flying crews from Kennedy's former Apollo and shuttle pad next door.
The company wanted more flexibility as more Falcon rockets soared.
AP
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