It seems to be like Butch and Suni’s experience house is headed their manner.
The 2 NASA astronauts — Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams — have been caught on the Worldwide Area Station for nearly four months, as a consequence of issues with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft that had been meant to hold them again to Earth after a mere eight days.
On Saturday, although, somewhat after 10 a.m. PT, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral carrying the Dragon spacecraft that is set to finally carry Wilmore and Williams again to Earth. (The Boeing Starliner returned dwelling with out a crew earlier this month, touchdown in New Mexico on Sept. 6.)
The SpaceX Dragon holds NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. Two different crew members have been bumped from this mission to depart a pair of seats empty for Butch and Suni’s return journey.
The 2 are actually scheduled to move again to Earth, together with Hague and Gorbunov, in February 2025. Within the meantime, they’re going to be engaged on analysis, upkeep and information evaluation, and so they additionally plan to vote from area within the November presidential election.
Neither Wilmore nor Williams appears to have gotten fidgety throughout their unexpectedly prolonged keep. “It is very peaceable up right here,” Williams mentioned throughout a stay information convention on Sept. 20, although she did add that the 2 miss their households again on Earth.
The Dragon is scheduled to dock with the ISS at 2:30 p.m. PT on Sunday, with NASA masking the rendezvous, docking and hatch opening stay beginning at 1:30 p.m. PT. It’s going to additionally broadcast the crew welcome ceremony as soon as Hague and Gorbunov are on board the area station. You’ll be able to watch on NASA Plus, on the agency’s website and on a variety of platforms, together with YouTube.
“This mission required a whole lot of operational and planning flexibility. I congratulate the complete staff on a profitable launch as we speak, and godspeed to Nick and Aleksandr as they make their strategy to the area station,” NASA Administrator Invoice Nelson said in a press launch Saturday.
“Our NASA wizards and our industrial and worldwide companions have proven as soon as once more the success that comes from working collectively and adapting to altering circumstances with out sacrificing the secure {and professional} operations of the Worldwide Area Station.”
