NASA, SpaceX to Discuss Crew-9 Mission

Image shows SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket ahead of NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 mission from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company’s Dragon spacecraft on top is seen Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex-40 as preparations continue for the Crew-9 mission at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.  Photo credit: NASA/Keegan Barber

In less than 24 hours, Crew-9 crew members NASA astronaut Nick Hague, commander, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, mission specialist, will launch to the International Space Station.

Leading up to liftoff, NASA and SpaceX plan to host a prelaunch news conference from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, Sept. 27, at 5 p.m. EDT with the following participants:

  • NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free
  • Ken Bowersox, associate administrator, NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate
  • Steve Stich, manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program
  • Dina Contella, deputy manager, NASA’s International Space Station Program
  • Jennifer Buchli, chief scientist, NASA’s International Space Station Program
  • William Gerstenmaier, vice president, Build & Flight Reliability, SpaceX
  • Brian Cizek, launch weather officer, 45th Weather Squadron, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station

Watch the event live on NASA+ and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.

Launch of the Crew-9 mission is targeted for 1:17 p.m. EDT on Saturday, Sept. 28, aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This is the first time a human spaceflight mission will launch from the pad.

More details about the launch will be posted on the mission blog, @commercial_crew on X, or commercial crew on Facebook.

NASA Hosts Crew-9 Space Station 101 Social Panel

Image shows NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 logo with the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building in the background at NASA's Kennedy Space Center
A graphic for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission is displayed on the historic countdown clock at the NASA News Center at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. Photo credit: NASA/Cory S Huston

NASA will host an International Space Station 101 panel livestream at 1:15 p.m. Friday, Sept 27. Agency experts will provide an overview about the space station, operations, science, living and working in space, and take questions from reporters and social media.

Participants in the livestream panel include:

  • NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free
  • Robyn Gatens, director, NASA’s International Space Station Program, and acting director, NASA’s Commercial Spaceflight Division
  • Jennifer Buchli, chief scientist, NASA’s International Space Station Program
  • John Posey, Dragon lead engineer, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program

NASA will stream the briefing beginning at 1:15 p.m. on NASA+ and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.

Following the panel discussion, leaders from NASA and SpaceX will host a prelaunch news conference at 5 p.m. to discuss final steps leading up to the 1:17 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28 launch from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

NASA astronaut Nick Hague, commander, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, mission specialist, make up the two-man team who will launch aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and the company’s Falcon 9 rocket to the orbiting laboratory.

Launch weather officers with Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s 45th Weather Squadron predict a 55% of favorable weather conditions for the launch. Cumulus cloud rule, flight through precipitation, surface electric fields rule are the primary weather concerns.

More details about the launch will be posted on the mission blog, @commercial_crew on X, or commercial crew on Facebook.

NASA, SpaceX Complete Launch Rehearsal, Falcon 9 Static Fire

Image shows NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov during a dress rehearsal on Tuesday, Sept.. 24, 2024, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 crew members participate in a countdown dress rehearsal at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, to prepare for the upcoming Crew-9 launch. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

To prepare for NASA’s Crew-9 mission, SpaceX fired the nine Merlin first-stage engines of the company’s Falcon 9 rocket during a routine static fire test on Tuesday, Sept. 24, at Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The successful static fire test allows NASA and SpaceX to move forward with launch operations to send NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov to the International Space Station.

Teams plan to roll the Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket back to the SpaceX hangar Wednesday, Sept. 25, to prepare for any weather impacts along the Space Coast due to Hurricane Helene, which is expected to make landfall near the Florida panhandle on Thursday, Sept. 26.

NASA and SpaceX also participated Tuesday in a countdown dry dress rehearsal in preparation for the upcoming launch. Rehearsal included Hague and Gorbunov getting into their spacesuits inside the crew quarters at the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew also took an elevator to the ground floor, exited the building’s double doors, and got into vehicles that took them to the launch pad. Once at Space Launch Complex-40, the duo then climbed into the Dragon spacecraft and rehearsed launch day operations.

Launch is targeted for no earlier than 1:17 p.m. EDT Saturday, Sept. 28, from Space Launch Complex-40.

More details about the launch will be posted on the mission blog, @commercial_crew on X, or commercial crew on Facebook.

NASA, SpaceX Shift Crew-9 Launch to NET Sept. 28 Over Weather Concerns

Image shows a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket ahead of NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, with the Dragon spacecraft atop, is vertical at the launch pad of Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, ahead of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 launch to the International Space Station. Photo credit: SpaceX

NASA and SpaceX teams have adjusted the next launch opportunity for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission to no earlier than 1:17 p.m. EDT, Saturday, Sept. 28, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida due to expected tropical storm conditions in the area. The change allows teams to complete a rehearsal of launch day activities Tuesday night with the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket, which rolled to Space Launch Complex-40 earlier in the day. Following rehearsal activities, the integrated system will move back to the hangar ahead of any potential storm activity.

Although Tropical Storm Helene is moving through the Gulf of Mexico and expected to impact the Florida panhandle, the storm system is large enough that high winds and heavy rain are expected in the Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island regions on Florida’s east coast.

NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov are to launch aboard the Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station on what will be the ninth crew rotation mission with SpaceX under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. They will conduct research and perform maintenance activities during their five-month mission. The mission is launch from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Flight Readiness Review Concludes

Managers participate in a flight readiness review at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of the agency's SpaceX Crew-9 launch.
Managers with NASA and SpaceX, along with international partners, participate in NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Flight Readiness Review at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. Launch is targeted for 2:05 p.m. EDT Sept. 26, 2024, from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

NASA, SpaceX, and international partner teams concluded a Flight Readiness Review Monday at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 launch to the International Space Station. The earliest possible launch opportunity is 2:05 p.m. EDT Thursday, Sept. 26. However, NASA, SpaceX, and the U.S. Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron are closely monitoring potential Tropical Cyclone Nine and its approach toward the Gulf of Mexico and Florida’s west coast ahead of launch.

The review concluded the SpaceX’s crew transportation system, the space station, and its partners are ready to support the launch of Crew-9 and the return of Crew-8, pending the weather forecast and the completion of the dress rehearsal and static fire.

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to roll out to Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Tuesday, Sept. 24, for a static fire and final dress rehearsal in preparation for launch. NASA astronaut Nick Hague, commander, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, mission specialist, are scheduled to launch to the space station aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket.

Crew-9 is the ninth crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the space station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. They will spend about five months at the orbiting laboratory conducting experiments, research demonstrations, and spacewalks to perform maintenance on the space station.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Enters Quarantine Ahead of Launch

Photo shows NASA, SpaceX Crew-9 members from right to left, Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov
From right to left, NASA SpaceX Crew-9 members Nick Hague, commander, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, mission specialist, pose for an official crew portrait at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Photo Credit: NASA/Josh Valcarel

Members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission will spend the next two weeks in routine preflight quarantine at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston ahead of their mission to the International Space Station.

NASA and SpaceX have shifted the Crew-9 launch to no earlier than Wednesday, Sept. 25, to complete prelaunch preparations and ensure separation between operations. Liftoff is targeted for 2:28 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft. This is the first time a human spaceflight mission will launch from the pad. Additional launch opportunities are available on Thursday, Sept. 26, Friday, Sept. 27, and Saturday, Sept. 28.

NASA astronaut Nick Hague, commander, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, mission specialist, will remain in isolation to prevent exposure to any illnesses before they join the Expedition 72 crew at the space station. As part of the Crew-9 crew, Hague and Gorbunov will join NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who arrived to the space station in June.

Hague and Gorbunov are set to arrive at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, Sept. 20, where the pair will remain in quarantine at the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building until launch.

Crew-9 is the ninth crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the space station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The crew will spend approximately five months at the orbiting laboratory conducting spacewalks, research demonstrations, and experiments before returning in February 2025.

More details about the launch will be posted on the mission blog, @commercial_crew on X, or commercial crew on Facebook.