Chicago – September 30, 2024
A SpaceX spacecraft has lifted off to rescue two astronauts stranded at the International Space Station (ISS) due to technical issues.
NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian astronaut Aleksandr Gorbunov took off on Saturday from Cape Canaveral, Florida to bring back Suni Williams and Barry Wilmore.
The Dragon spacecraft, operated by SpaceX, the private company founded by billionaire Elon Musk, is set to arrive at the ISS on Sunday.
Originally, astronauts Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson were set to be part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission.
However, they gave up their spots to accommodate Williams and Wilmore, astronauts stranded on the ISS due to technical issues with the Starliner spacecraft.
Williams and Wilmore were originally scheduled to return to Earth on June 13, after their Boeing Starliner capsule launched its first crewed flight from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on June 5. But the Starliner had been plagued with issues, even before the June 5 launch. A previous launch attempt was scrapped on June 1 just moments before launch because of a ground control computer performance issue.
