SpaceX is launching a rescue mission for two NASA astronauts stuck in space until next year

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – SpaceX launched a rescue mission for the two stuck astronauts on the International Space Station on Saturday, sending a scaled-down crew to bring them home, but not until next year.

The capsule shot into orbit to pick up the test pilots, whose Boeing spacecraft returned to Earth empty earlier this month for safety reasons. The change in rides left Nick Hague of NASA and Alexander Gorbunov of Russia to bring back Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.

Because NASA rotates space station crews about every six months, this newly launched flight will not return until late February with two free seats for Wilmore and Williams. Officials said there was no way to bring them back to SpaceX sooner without disrupting other planned missions.

When they return, the couple will have spent more than eight months in space. When they signed up for Boeing’s first astronaut flight, which launched in June, they expected to be gone for just a week.

NASA ultimately concluded that Boeing’s Starliner was too risky after a cascade of problems with the engines and helium leaks marred the flight to the orbiting complex. The space agency excluded two astronauts from this SpaceX launch to make room for Wilmore and Williams on the return flight.

Williams has now been promoted to commander of the space station, which will soon return to its normal population of seven. Once Hague and Gorbunov arrive this weekend, four astronauts who have lived there since March will be able to depart in their own SpaceX capsule. Their return home was delayed by a month due to the unrest on the Starliner.

Before the flight, Hague noted that change is the only constant in human spaceflight.

“There is always something that changes. Maybe this time it will be a little more visible to the public,” he said.

Hague was appointed rescue mission commander six years ago because of his experience and handling of a launch emergency. The Russian rocket failed shortly after launch and the capsule carrying him and a cosmonaut catapulted from the top to safety.

New NASA astronaut Zena Cardman and veteran space flyer Stephanie Wilson were pulled from that flight after NASA chose SpaceX to bring the stranded astronauts home. The space agency said both are eligible to take part in future missions. Gorbunov remained under an exchange agreement between NASA and the Russian space agency.

“I don’t know exactly when my launch into space will be, but I know I will get there,” Cardman said from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, where she attended the launch livestream.

Hague acknowledged the challenges of launching with half a crew and returning with two astronauts trained on another spacecraft.

“We have a dynamic challenge before us,” Hague said after arriving from Houston last weekend. “We know each other, are professionals and do what is asked of us.”

SpaceX has long been a leader in NASA’s commercial crew program, which was founded when the space shuttles were retired more than a decade ago. SpaceX surpassed Boeing in carrying astronauts to the space station in 2020 and is now up to 10 crew flights for NASA.

Boeing has struggled with a variety of problems over the years, repeating a Starliner test flight with no one on board after the first one went off course. The Starliner that left Wilmore and Williams in space landed without problems in the New Mexico desert on September 6 and has since returned to Kennedy Space Center. A week ago, Boeing’s defense and space chief was replaced.

The latest SpaceX launch was delayed by Hurricane Helene, which hit Florida, and was the first for astronauts from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. SpaceX took over the old Titan rocket platform nearly two decades ago and used it for satellite launches while crews from Kennedy’s former Apollo and shuttle pad flew next door. The company wanted more flexibility as more Falcon rockets came onto the market.