BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – NASA and SpaceX are set to launch Crew-9 on Saturday from Florida’s Space Coast, SpaceX’s ninth operational human spaceflight mission to the space station and the first ever crewed liftoff from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
An instantaneous launch is targeted at 1:17 p.m., with a backup opportunity available at 12:54 p.m. Sunday if needed, according to SpaceX. The 45th Weather Squadron has forecast a 55% chance of favorable weather conditions at launch time, what would improve to 60% in the event of a 24-hour delay and 65% after a 48-hour delay.
During their time on the orbiting laboratory, the crew of two will conduct over 200 scientific experiments and technology demonstrations to prepare for human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit and to benefit humanity on Earth, SpaceX’s website states.
Crew-9 has become increasingly overshadowed by the crewed flight test of Boeing’s Starliner, which reached the space station in June carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams yet returned to Earth empty after NASA weighed the risk. After nearly three months into what was expected to only be a mission lasting a week or two, NASA decided to send Starliner back to Earth without the crew members due to an uncertainty of how failing thrusters would perform.
Wilmore and Williams have been in high spirits however, and now that the Crew-9 roster has since been trimmed to two instead of four, the stranded NASA astronauts will have their tickets for a ride back home when the SpaceX capsule returns to Earth in February 2025.
Crew-9 was delayed on Tuesday to no earlier than 1:17 p.m. Saturday in light of Hurricane Helene. Crew-9 astronauts Nick Hague and Alex Gorbunov arrived at Kennedy Space Center the Saturday prior.
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Coverage of the launch begins Saturday around 9:10 a.m.
Should the launch take place as planned on Saturday afternoon, a post-launch news conference is set for 3 p.m.
During a pre-launch news conference on Friday, NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free expressed confidence in Starliner’s future flying crew to the space station.
“We’re a long way from saying, ‘Hey, we’re writing off Boeing,’” Free said.
ClickOrlando.com will stream coverage of the launch live at the top of this story.
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