SpaceX Launches Rescue Mission For Two Stranded Boeing Starliner Astronauts On ISS 

Just two weeks after SpaceX completed the historic Polaris Dawn mission, which included the first private spacewalk and the highest orbit since the Apollo era…

Views from Dragon in flight 🐉🌎

During its five day mission, Dragon and the Polaris Dawn crew completed 75 orbits around Earth pic.twitter.com/NzIFElzXAm

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 27, 2024

… Elon Musk’s space company launched a Falcon rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Saturday to rescue the stranded Boeing Starliner astronauts on the International Space Station.

Falcon 9 launches Crew-9, the first human spaceflight mission to launch from pad 40 in Florida pic.twitter.com/BYpPPtaKqm

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 28, 2024

NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov are aboard the Dragon capsule and will reach the ISS on Sunday afternoon. 

Since NASA rotates ISS crews every six months, the stranded astronauts, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, won’t return to Earth until late February.

Boeing’s first astronaut flight with the Starliner launched in June was only supposed to last a week, but multiple failures, including thruster troubles and helium leaks, led NASA officials to deem the spacecraft too dangerous for Williams and Wilmore. The crewless Starliner returned to Earth earlier this month, landing without a problem in New Mexico. 

After Saturday’s launch, NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy said “human spaceflight” is very “complicated and dynamic.”

SpaceX noted after launch. 

After today’s successful launch of Crew-9, Falcon 9’s second stage was disposed in the ocean as planned, but experienced an off-nominal deorbit burn. As a result, the second stage safely landed in the ocean, but outside of the targeted area.

We will resume launching after we…

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 29, 2024

Meanwhile.

If the rest of the year goes well, SpaceX will launch close to 90% of all mass to orbit. China will be ~6% and rest of world ~4%.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 24, 2024

Where is Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin?