SpaceX launched a two-person crew to the International Space Station, the start of a mission to bring home two NASA astronauts stuck in orbit after flying on Boeing Co.’s Starliner spacecraft.
NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov took off in a SpaceX Crew Dragon from Cape Canaveral, Florida, just after 1 p.m. on Saturday. The Crew-9 capsule docked with the ISS on Sunday at roughly 5:30 p.m. Eastern time and Hague and Gorbunov entered the ISS about 90 minutes later.
The pair had two empty seats next to them that NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams will fill when the spacecraft returns next year.
The Crew-9 flight was meant to have a four-person crew but NASA removed two crew members to make room for the Starliner duo after technical failures with Boeing’s spacecraft. Astronauts Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson relinquished their seats so their colleagues could return to Earth.
