CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (FNN) – In a historic moment, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission successfully launched from Space Launch Complex-40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 1:17 p.m. EDT on Saturday. The mission, which is the first human spaceflight to launch from this complex, signifies NASA’s ninth commercial crew rotation mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

Propelled by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the Dragon spacecraft carried NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov into orbit. The spacecraft is set to autonomously dock at the ISS’s Harmony module at approximately 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, September 29, where Hague and Gorbunov will join Expedition 72 for a five-month mission aboard the orbiting laboratory.

“This mission required a lot of operational and planning flexibility. I congratulate the entire team on a successful launch today, and godspeed to Nick and Aleksandr as they make their way to the space station,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “Our NASA wizards and our commercial and international partners have shown once again the success that comes from working together and adapting to changing circumstances without sacrificing the safe and professional operations of the International Space Station.”

Throughout the flight, SpaceX will oversee a series of automated spacecraft maneuvers from its mission control center in Hawthorne, California, while NASA’s Mission Control Center at the Johnson Space Center in Houston will monitor operations aboard the ISS.

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NASA will provide live coverage of rendezvous, docking, and hatch opening, beginning at 3:30 p.m., Sept. 29, on NASA+ and the agency’s website. NASA also will broadcast the crew welcome ceremony once Hague and Gorbunov are aboard the orbital outpost. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.

The duo will join the space station’s Expedition 72 crew of NASA astronauts Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick, Jeanette Epps, Don Pettit, Butch Wilmore, and Suni Williams, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexander Grebenkin, Alexey Ovchinin, and Ivan Vagner. The number of crew aboard the space station will increase to 11 for a short time until Crew-8 members Barratt, Dominick, Epps, and Grebenkin depart the space station in early October.

The crewmates will conduct more than 200 scientific investigations, including blood clotting studies, moisture effects on plants grown in space, and vision changes in astronauts during their mission. Following their stay aboard the space station, Hague and Gorbunov will be joined by Williams and Wilmore to return to Earth in February 2025.

With this mission, NASA continues to maximize the use of the orbiting laboratory, where people have lived and worked continuously for more than 23 years, testing technologies, performing science, and developing the skills needed to operate future commercial destinations in low Earth orbit and explore farther from Earth. Research conducted at the space station benefits people on Earth and paves the way for future long-duration missions to the Moon under NASA’s Artemis campaign, and beyond.

More about Crew-9

Hague is the commander of Crew-9 and is making his second trip to the orbital outpost since his selection as an astronaut in 2013. He will serve as a mission specialist during Expedition 72/73 aboard the space station. Follow @AstroHague on X and Instagram.

Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov is flying on his first mission. He will serve as a flight engineer during Expeditions 72/73.

ORLANDO, Fla. (FNN) – During his first mission to the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Jonny Kim will serve as a flight engineer and member of the upcoming Expedition 72/73 crew.

Kim will launch on the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft in March 2025, accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky. The trio will spend approximately eight months at the space station.

While aboard the orbiting laboratory, Kim will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare the crew for future space missions and provide benefits to people on Earth.

NASA selected Kim as an astronaut in 2017. After completing the initial astronaut candidate training, Kim supported mission and crew operations in various roles including the Expedition 65 lead operations officer, T-38 operations liaison, and space station capcom chief engineer.

A native of Los Angeles, Kim is a United States Navy lieutenant commander and dual designated naval aviator and flight surgeon. Kim also served as an enlisted Navy SEAL. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the University of San Diego and a medical degree from Harvard Medical School in Boston, and completed his internship with the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

For more than two decades, humans have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge, and making research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. The station is a critical testbed for NASA to understand and overcome the challenges of long-duration spaceflight and to expand commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit. As commercial companies focus on providing human space transportation services and destinations as part of a robust low Earth orbit economy, NASA is able to more fully focus its resources on deep space missions to the Moon and Mars.

ORLANDO, Fla. (FNN) – NASA has expanded its roster of launch service providers by selecting three new companies under the VADR (Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare) contract. The newly awarded companies are:

• Arrow Science and Technology LLC (Webster, Texas)
• Impulse Space Inc. (Redondo Beach, California)
• Momentus Space LLC (San Jose, California)

The VADR contract, a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity agreement, has an ordering period through February 3, 2027, with a maximum total value of $300 million across all contracts. These companies were selected through VADR’s on-ramp provision, allowing NASA to incorporate new capabilities as they become available. NASA will issue firm-fixed-price task orders for launch services as needed for future missions.

VADR builds on NASA’s previous procurement efforts, like the Venture Class Launch Services (VCLS) and VCLS Demo 2, offering a wide range of commercial launch services. These services, which include the delivery of Class D, CubeSats, and higher risk-tolerant payloads to various orbits, use a lower level of mission assurance and commercial best practices to reduce launch costs and expand access to space.