Indian-origin NASA astronaut Sunita Williams is in the headlines these days. In fact, she is ‘stuck’ in space with another astronaut Butch Wilmore. Sunita and Wilmore went to the International Space Station in the first week of June, but due to problems in the Boeing Starliner, both will now be able to return in February next year via the SpaceX Crew-9 spacecraft. A big update has come regarding Crew-9 going to space for this mission. Crew-9 was earlier scheduled to be launched into space on September 25, but now it has been delayed by a day. Now its launch will take place on September 26, not September 25. However, this will not affect the return of Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore to Earth at the moment, as both have to return in February next year via the same spacecraft.
NASA Commercial Crew posted on X, “NASA and SpaceX are targeting a launch date for Crew-9 to the space station no earlier than September 26. Along with this, September 27 and 28 have also been kept as backup dates. The joint teams will continue to work through prelaunch operations and hardware processing before launch from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Apart from this, the weather will also be monitored before liftoff. At the same time, the arrival of the crew at Kennedy Space Center is now scheduled for September 21. ” Let us tell you that earlier NASA had set the date of September 25 for the launch of the Crew-9 mission. Now it has been changed to September 26.
The crew will fly from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida via SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft. Earlier, four astronauts were to be sent into space for the SpaceX Crew-9 mission, but later it was changed and now only two astronauts will go. The names of these two are Nick Hague and Roscosmos mission expert Alexander Gorbunov. Actually, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are to return through this spacecraft in February 2025 and that is why only two astronauts are being sent instead of four. The other two will be Sunita and Wilmore. Earlier, the Boeing Starliner carrying Sunita and Wilmore into space returned safely to Earth without the crew on September 6. The spacecraft landed in Florida.
