The SpaceX closeout team has left the crew access arm, which will soon retract from the Dragon spacecraft. Launch, set for 1:17 p.m. EDT, is now less than an hour away.
Launch weather officers with the U.S. Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron are watching lightning, rain, and wind in the area, but launch currently remains a “go” for liftoff from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
It will take 28.5 hours for NASA astronaut Nick Hague, commander, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, mission specialist, to reach the International Space Station and dock to the Harmony module’s forward port. Once there, they’ll be greeted by nine members of the Expedition 72 crew. There will be a brief handover period before NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 members, NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Mike Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, as well as Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin return to Earth. The four-person crew has been at the orbiting laboratory since March 5, when they docked to the orbital outpost aboard the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft.
The space station will be traveling over northeast Bulgaria during liftoff.
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.