NASA-SpaceX launches Crew 9 mission to bring back Sunita Williams and Butch Willmore
The Crew-9 was initially expected to launch on Thursday but was postponed due to poor weather conditions.
New Delhi: NASA-SpaceX is all set to launch the Crew-9, comprising an astronaut (USA) and a cosmonaut (Russia) to the International Space Station (ISS) in, what has been described as a mission to bring back stranded Sunita Williams back to Earth in February next year.
Sunita Williams is of Indian-Origin.
The liftoff is targeted for 1:17 p.m. EDT (10:forty seven pm IST) on Saturday, September 28 from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, said NASA adding, “It truly is the first human spaceflight mission to launch from that pad.”
The Crew-9 became at the beginning expected to launch on Thursday but became postponed resulting from poor climatic conditions resulting from hurricane Helene, currently impacting the Gulf Coast of Florida.
The flight will carry NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov to the orbiting laboratory for roughly five-month science mission. They will return to Earth in February together with Williams and Butch Willmore.
Williams and Willmore travelled to the ISS on an eight-day sojourn on the faulty Boeing’s Starliner. While the Starliner became declared unfit for human go backwards and forwards by NASA, and it returned safely to Earth, the astronaut duo are stuck in space.
Meanwhile, NASA’s Flight Readiness Review confirmed that each one systems are “go” for the launch, making certain that the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft are ready for this a really powerful mission.
For the first time since May 2020 test flight, SpaceX is launching two astronauts to the ISS on a Dragon spacecraft.
In a bid to make room for Williams and Willmore contained within the orbiting lab, NASA had pulled out two other Crew-9 members — commander Zena Cardman and three-time shuttle flier Stephanie Wilson.
The Crew-9 mission will fly with two empty with extra cargo and supplies, including a fresh Dragon spacesuit for Wilmore (one for Williams is already aboard the ISS).
The targeted docking time is approximately 5:30 p.m. Sunday (Three.30 am Monday), NASA said.
(With IANS inputs)
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