SpaceX launches mission to bring Boeing Starliner crew home

SpaceX launched its mission tasked with bringing back two Boeing Starliner astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) next February on Saturday. 

SpaceX Dragon spacecraft lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 1:17 p.m., according to NASA. It will take the Crew-9 mission 28.5 hours to dock at the ISS. 

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon left Earth with two empty seats for astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have been docked at the ISS since June. The pair was the first to perform Boeing’s first crewed mission to space. 

Initially, their planned lift-off had some bumps in the road. There were multiple delayed attempts because of helium leaks and thruster failures. Finally, they took off to the space station on June 5. They were scheduled to be on ISS for just over a week, but their stay was prolonged for multiple months. 

In late August, NASA confirmed the Boeing Starliner crew would stay at the ISS until February 2025, but that the Starliner capsule would return unmanned to Earth in September. The decision, according to NASA, was based on safety concerns. The unmanned Starliner landed in New Mexico on Sept. 7. 

Initially, the Crew-9 mission was supposed to have four astronauts on board, but now, with the adjustment, only NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov were on board to create space for Wilmore and Williams to return home. 

NASA said the Crew-9 mission has safely reached orbit and the nosecone has opened.