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NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission successfully launched Saturday from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Crew 9, the first human spaceflight mission to launch from Pad 40, is now on its way to the International Space Station.
SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft has separated from the Falcon 9 rocket’s second stage and is now flying on its own.
How long will it take to reach ISS? “The spacecraft is expected to take 28.5 hours to reach the space station autonomously at 5:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Sept. 29, traveling at 17,000 mph while orbiting Earth,” NASA said in a statement Saturday. hopefully.” This is the first time that a human spaceflight mission has been launched from Pad 40.
The first two crew members to sign the White Room: Meanwhile, Crew-9 Commander Nick Hague and Mission Specialist Alexander Gorbunov became the first two crew members to sign on to the White Room at the end of the crew access arm on Pad 40.
NASA said the White Room is an area at the end of the crew access arm that connects to the spacecraft – the term refers to the Gemini program and the white paint used on the room.
Nick, Alexander and a ‘furry friend’? The Crew-9 mission launched with NASA astronaut and commander Nick Hague, Roscosmos astronaut and mission specialist Alexander Gorbunov, and a “dear friend” Aurora.
That “Dear Friend” is a “Zero-G” [Gravity] Indicators”. NASA describes zero gravity indicators as “small items carried in a spacecraft that provide a visual indicator when a spacecraft has reached the weightlessness of microgravity”. This is referred to as “zero gravity”. There is a tradition of bringing a small object with the crew to work as a “signature”. This time, Hague reused the pointer he had taken on his previous flights.
“I just happened to have a dear friend with me,” Nick said, communicating from space to ground as he reached microgravity. “We got a Falcon on the ship…however, it’s a multi-flyer, it was my first flight with Alexey and I, and Alesky and I and Christina, and now me and Alex, so say hello to Aurora ,” he added.
Dragon to offer Sunita Williams a homecoming: Nick and Alexander launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket and SpaceX Dragon ‘Endurance’ spacecraft. NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who arrived at the ISS aboard Boeing’s Starliner, will return with Nick and Alexander aboard the SpaceX craft in February 2025.
By the time Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore return, the pair will have logged more than eight months in space. When he signed up for Boeing’s first astronaut flight, launching in June, he expected to be gone in just a week. However, technical problems with Starliner prompted NASA to return the Boeing spacecraft without its crew.
Nick Hague and Alexander Gorbunov will join Expedition 72 for a five-month stay in the orbiting laboratory. Crew-9 will perform more than 200 scientific and technology demonstrations during its time on the space station, SpaceX said in a post on X.
Elon Musk’s company said, “Dragon missions like Crew-9 and Polaris Dawn are important steps in building our future in space, enabling discoveries that can inform long-duration spaceflight missions as life becomes multiplanetary.” It happens.”
In total, Hague and Gorbunov will spend about five months on the ISS; Wilmore and Williams, eight months.
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