The National Aeronautics Space Agency (NASA) is all set to launch a mission on September 28 to facilitate the return of astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore. SpaceX is preparing to send a two-person crew to the International Space Station (ISS) where the two astronauts have been stranded since June.
The Crew-9 mission, which marks the ninth operational flight for SpaceX under NASA's Commercial Crew Programme, is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 1:17 PM EDT 1:17 PM EDT (10.47 pm IST).
Onboard the Crew-9 mission are NASA's Nick Hague, who serves as the commander, and mission specialist Aleksandr Gorbunov from Russia's Roscosmos space agency. If all goes according to plan, the crew is expected to dock with the ISS on September 29, at 5:30 pm EDT (3 am IST on Monday, September 30).
Usually, SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsules carry four astronauts to the ISS. However, for this mission, two seats will remain unoccupied to facilitate the return of Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams, who have been on the ISS since June 6. They reached the ISS aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, which encountered multiple helium leaks and thruster failures during its docking process.
After extensive analysis and testing, NASA determined that bringing the astronauts home on the Starliner posed too great a risk. So, on September 6, the agency decided to return the spacecraft uncrewed. On September 28, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft will transport Hague and Gorbunov to the orbiting laboratory for an estimated five-month science mission.
In the unlikely event that an emergency evacuation of the ISS becomes necessary before Crew-9 arrives, a contingency plan is in place. Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams will use the Crew-8 Dragon capsule, currently docked on the ISS, and are scheduled to depart shortly after Crew-9's arrival. Since Crew-8 already has four assigned astronauts, Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams will utilise temporary seats in the cargo area of the capsule, should an emergency situation arise.
Once Crew-9 docks, the emergency evacuation plans for Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams will shift to using their newly arrived spacecraft.
“We're going to find spots for them to fly,” said Ken Bowersox, NASA's Associate Administrator for Space Operations, during a press conference. “We really appreciate how hard it is to give up a mission and wait a little bit longer.”
