Category: crew-9

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 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. 

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.  

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 

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.