Tag: international space station

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Mission to Perform Science Experiments

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei gets his eyes checked aboard the International Space Station in May 2021.
NASA astronaut and Expedition 65 Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei peers into near-infrared medical-imaging gear, or optical coherence tomography, for detailed views of his retina as part of regularly scheduled eye checks aboard the International Space Station on May 12, 2021. Photo credit: NASA

NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will be busy during their roughly five-month mission at the International Space Station.  

The Crew-9 members will conduct more than 200 science investigations involving blood clotting studies, moisture effects on plants grown in space, and vision changes in astronauts.  

Researchers want to determine how environmental conditions affect platelets and megakaryocytes, which are large cells found in bone marrow. Both play important roles in blood clotting and immune response, and the results could provide answers for humans in space and here on Earth.  

The crew also will study the vision changes that often occur while astronauts are in orbit and if a daily vitamin B supplement will make a difference. It’s still unknown why some astronauts experience vision changes and others do not, but researchers have been studying it for years.  

Members of Crew-9 will participate in a spacewalk to repair a telescope attached to the outside of the space station.  

Hague and Gorbunov are scheduled to launch to the space station at 1:17 p.m. EDT aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. 

Hatch Closed on SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft

Image shows Hatch closure on SpaceX Dragon spacecraft at Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024.
Hatch closure on SpaceX Dragon spacecraft at Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station ahead of launch to the International Space Station on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. Photo credit: NASA

The Dragon spacecraft’s hatch is now closed. Liftoff of the company’s Falcon 9 rocket remains on track for 1:17 p.m. EDT.  

NASA astronaut Nick Hague, commander, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, mission specialist, will spend about five months at the International Space Station. This is Hague’s second spaceflight to the orbiting laboratory and Gorbunov’s first time.  

Crew-9 is the ninth crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the space station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.  

NASA’s live coverage of the Crew-9 mission continues on NASA+ and the agency’s website. Also, check back for updates on the mission blog, @commercial_crew on X, or commercial crew on Facebook. 

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Secured in Spacecraft

Image shows NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 members secured inside Dragon spacecraft.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 members secured inside Dragon spacecraft at Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. Photo credit: NASA

NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov are strapped in SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft. 

Hague and Gorbunov soon will go through another round of spacesuit pressurization and communication checks with NASA and SpaceX launch and mission teams.  

In addition to the two crew members, the spacecraft will carry cargo, science experiments, and personal items for the five-month mission. Hague and Gorbunov will join NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who arrived at the station in June, before returning to Earth in February 2025 as a crew of four.  

Liftoff to the International Space Station remains at 1:17 p.m. EDT. At the moment of launch, the space station will be traveling over northeast Bulgaria. 

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Boards Spacecraft

Image shows NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 members board SpaceX Dragon spacecraft
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 members board SpaceX Dragon spacecraft ahead of liftoff to the International Space Station on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. Photo credit: NASA

NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov are climbing into SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft at Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.  

Just moments ago, the pair entered the White Room and continued the tradition of signing their names on the NASA meatball logo on the wall. Hague and Gorbunov will be the first names on the wall since this is the first human spaceflight mission from Space Launch Complex-40. The White Room is an area at the end of the crew access arm that connects to the spacecraft – the term dates to the Gemini program and the white paint used on the room.  

As the crew enters the Dragon spacecraft, their seats are in the upright position. Once the crew is securely inside, the seats rotate into a reclined position for launch just before launch teams close Dragon’s side hatch.  

Liftoff remains at 1:17 p.m. EDT.  

NASA’s live coverage of the Crew-9 mission continues on NASA+ and the agency’s website. Also check back for updates on the mission blog, @commercial_crew on X, or commercial crew on Facebook. 

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Arrives at Launch Pad

Image shows NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 crewmembers arrive at Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 crewmembers arrive at Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. Photo credit: NASA

Members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 are about two hours away from launch! 

NASA astronaut Nick Hague, commander, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, mission specialist, arrived at Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, where a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft will launch them to the International Space Station. 

Space Launch Complex-40 carries decades of history dating back to the 1960s when Titan rockets launched from the pad for the United States Air Force. SpaceX leased the launch site in 2007 for the company’s Falcon 9 rockets, but this is the first time a human spaceflight mission will launch from the pad. In 2023, teams at SpaceX built a tower, a crew access arm, and an emergency escape system for future crewed missions. The emergency system involves chutes instead of egress baskets like those used at Launch Complex 39A and B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. 

 Hague and Gorbunov will soon board an elevator to the crew access arm, where they will walk across to the White Room for last-minute preparations before entering the spacecraft. 

 Liftoff remains scheduled for 1:17 p.m. EDT.  

Meet NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9

Image shows NASA SpaceX Crew-9 astronaut Nick Hague
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Nick Hague is pictured smiling in his flight suit during training at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California. Credit: SpaceX

Nick Hague became a NASA astronaut in 2013. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 launch today will be Hague’s third launch and second mission to the International Space Station. He has logged 203 days in space during Expeditions 59 and 60. 

An active-duty colonel in the U.S. Space Force, Hague completed a developmental rotation with the Defense Department and served as the Space Force’s director of test and evaluation from 2020 to 2022. In August 2022, Hague resumed duties at NASA, working on the Boeing Starliner Program until the Crew-9 assignment. Follow @astrohague on X and Instagram. 

This will be Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov’s first trip to space and the station. Born in Zheleznogorsk, Kursk region, Russia, he studied engineering with qualifications in spacecraft and upper stages from the Moscow Aviation Institute. Gorbunov graduated from the military department with a specialty in operating and repairing aircraft, helicopters, and aircraft engines. Before his selection as a cosmonaut in 2018, he worked as an engineer for Rocket Space Corp. Energia and supported cargo spacecraft launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.  

Hague and Gorbunov soon will board a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to launch to the International Space Station from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. They will spend about five months at the orbiting laboratory conducting experiments, research demonstrations, and spacewalks to perform maintenance on the space station.  

Learn more about International Space Station research and operations at:  

https://www.nasa.gov/station 

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Exits Crew Quarters, Heads to Launch Site

Image shows NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 crew members walk out of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 crew members walk out of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of launch on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. NASA astronaut Nick Hague (right) and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will launch to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket. Launch is targeted for 1:17 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Crew-9 is the ninth crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the space station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Photo credit: NASA

The crew is on their way to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex-40 to launch on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station. This is the first time a human spaceflight mission will launch from the pad. 

NASA astronaut Nick Hague, commander, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, mission specialist, spent the last couple of hours eating and suiting up inside crew quarters at the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 

The Crew-9 crewmembers waved to family and friends before entering customized Tesla Model X vehicles, with a security escort, for a roughly 20-minute journey to the launch pad. 

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and a Dragon spacecraft will launch Crew-9 to the space station for about a five-month mission. Hague and Gorbunov will join Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who are already aboard the space station, and all will return to Earth as a crew of four in February 2025. 

NASA’s live coverage of the Crew-9 mission continues on NASA+ and the agency’s website. 

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Launch Day Milestones

Image of SpaceX Dragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket ahead of NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station.
SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft sits atop a Falcon 9 rocket on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, at Space Launch Complex-40 ahead of launch to the International Space Station. Photo credit: NASA

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 launch operations are underway to send a NASA astronaut and Roscosmos cosmonaut to the International Space Station. Crew-9 is the ninth crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the space station under the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. 

Time                Event  (All times subject to change)
9:17 a.m.      Suit donning and checkouts
9:57 a.m.     Crew walkout from Neil A. Armstrong Operations & Checkout Building
10:02 a.m.   Crew transportation to Launch Complex-40
10:20 a.m.   Crew arrives at pad and ascends tower
10:42 a.m.   Crew ingress
10:48 a.m.   Seat rotation
10:49 a.m.   Suit leak checks
10:58 a.m.   Communication check
11:22 a.m.    Hatch close
12:42 p.m.  SpaceX Launch Director verifies go for propellant load
12:35 p.m.   Crew access arm retracts
12:39 p.m.   Dragon’s launch escape system is armed
12:42 p.m.   RP-1 (rocket grade kerosene) loading begins
12:42 p.m.  1st stage LOX (liquid oxygen) loading begins
1:01 p.m.     2nd stage LOX loading begins
1:10 p.m.     Falcon 9 begins engine chill prior to launch
1:15 p.m.     Dragon transitions to internal power
1:16 p.m.     Command flight computer to begin final prelaunch checks
1:16 p.m.     Propellant tank pressurization to flight pressure begins
1:16 p.m.     SpaceX Launch Director verifies go for launch
1:17 p.m.     Falcon 9 liftoff
1:18 p.m.    Max Q (moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket)
1:19 p.m.    1st stage main engine cutoff (MECO)
1:19 p.m.    1st and 2nd stages separate
1:19 p.m.    2nd stage engine starts
1:20 p.m.    Boostback Burn Starts
1:21 p.m.     Boostback Burn Ends
1:23 p.m.    1st stage entry burn starts
1:24 p.m.    1st stage entry burn ends
1:24 p.m.    1st stage landing burn starts
1:25 p.m.    1st stage landing
1:26 p.m.    2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-1)
1:29 p.m.    Dragon separates from 2nd stage
1:30 p.m.    Dragon nosecone open sequence begins 

NASA’s live coverage of the Crew-9 mission continues on NASA+ and the agency’s website. Also check back for updates on the mission blog, @commercial_crew on X, or commercial crew on Facebook. 

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Members Suit Up

Image shows NASA Crew-9 crewmembers suiting up for their launch to the International Space Station on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 crew members are seated inside the crew suit-up room in the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of launch to the International Space Station on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. NASA astronaut Nick Hague (left) and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov are scheduled to lift off aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket at 1:17 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Crew-9 is the ninth crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the space station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Photo credit: NASA

NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov are in the process of suit-up operations in the Astronaut Crew Quarters inside NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building in Florida. 

The crew are sitting in seats configured like the ones they will occupy inside the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft during launch. Technicians are pressurizing the suits and checking for any leaks. Each 3D-printed helmet includes a communications system and valves to regulate the suit’s pressure systems. A port on the suit’s thigh connects to life support systems, including air and power. 

Image shows NASA's Crew-9 crewmembers play ritual card game on launch day, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024.
NASA’s Crew-9 crewmembers play ritual card game on launch day, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2024. Photo credit: NASA

Once suited, Hague and Gorbunov soon will play the ritual card game that occurs before any human spaceflight mission launching from the Florida spaceport. The point of the game is that the commander must use up all his or her bad luck before the launch, so the crew can only leave for the launch pad once the commander loses.  

Launch is targeted for 1:17 p.m. EDT at Space Launch Complex-40 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This is the first time a human spaceflight mission will launch from the pad. 

NASA’s live coverage of the Crew-9 mission continues on NASA+ and the agency’s website. 

NASA+ Crew-9 Launch Coverage Begins

Image of countdown clock on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, ahead of NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 Launch to the International Space Station
Image of countdown clock on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, ahead of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Launch to the International Space Station. Photo credit: NASA

NASA’s live coverage is underway on NASA+ and the agency’s website for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station. 

At 1:17 p.m. EDT, NASA astronaut Nick Hague, commander, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, mission specialist, will begin their journey to the space station aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.  

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

Right now, the Crew-9 crewmembers are inside the Astronaut Crew Quarters of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, undergoing medical checks and receiving a weather briefing before suiting up.  

Hague and Gorbunov will join NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who arrived at the space station in June, to complete their crew contingent. The crew will spend about five months at the orbiting laboratory conducting experiments, research demonstrations, and spacewalks to perform maintenance on the space station before returning in February 2025.  

Stay with us throughout the day as we countdown toward launch. Updates will be posted on the mission blog, @commercial_crew on X, or commercial crew on Facebook.