The SpaceX mission launched on Saturday with two passengers on board instead of the initially planned four, in order to leave two seats vacant upon return for American astronauts stranded for several months on the International Space Station, due to malfunctions in a Boeing spacecraft.
• Read also: A mission has been launched to find a new habitable planet
• Read also: Elon Musk's Company: SpaceX sued for infringement of private property
The Falcon 9 rocket was launched at 1:17 pm local time from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The missile was launched from a new launch pad used for the first time on a manned mission.
“Congratulations to NASA and SpaceX on this successful launch,” US space agency chief Bill Nelson wrote. “We live in an exciting time of exploration and innovation.”
On board the spacecraft are NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian astronaut Alexander Gorbunov.
When they return, scheduled for February, they will take astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams with them. They lifted off at the beginning of June aboard a new spacecraft developed by Boeing, Starliner, which was the first crewed test flight to the International Space Station (ISS).
The spacecraft was initially scheduled to return them to Earth after eight days, but problems discovered in its propulsion system led NASA to question its reliability.
After long weeks of testing, the space agency finally returned an empty Boeing capsule, and decided to return the castaways with the SpaceX mission, called Crew-9.
Agence France-Presse
“We know this launch is a little bit unique, with only two passengers,” NASA associate administrator Jim Frey admitted during a press conference on Friday. “I would like to thank SpaceX for its support and flexibility.”
Arrival on Sunday to the International Space Station
Billionaire Elon Musk's company is carrying out this regular crew rotation mission for the International Space Station, which, like all other missions, is scheduled to last about six months.
However, Crew-9's liftoff was postponed from mid-August to the end of September to give NASA teams more time to decide on Boeing's spacecraft.
The launch was then postponed again for a few days due to Hurricane Helen, which hit Florida this week.
The SpaceX Dragon ship is scheduled to dock with the International Space Station on Sunday at around 9:30 pm GMT.
After a delivery period with the four members of the previous mission, Crew-8, they will return to Earth on another SpaceX ship.
In total, Nick Hague and Alexander Gorbunov will spend about five months on the ISS. Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams stayed there for about eight months.
During a press conference at the beginning of September, they both confirmed that they were coping well with their long stay.
“The transition wasn't that difficult,” Sonny Williams said. “We're both Marines, and we've been deployed before. We're not surprised when assignments change.”
It is planned to conduct about 200 scientific experiments during Crew-9's stay in the flying laboratory.
