NASA and SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission has successfully arrived at the International Space Station (ISS). The Dragon Freedom spacecraft docked with the station’s forward-facing Harmony module port on Sunday, September 29, at 5:30 p.m. EDT (2130 GMT), according to Space.com.
The hatches between the two spacecraft were opened at about 7:15 p.m. EDT (2315 GMT), followed by welcoming remarks from astronauts aboard the ISS. NASA streamed the docking live on YouTube.
The Crew-9 mission launched a day earlier, on Saturday, September 28, at 1:17 p.m. EDT, from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The mission marks one of the first crewed launches from this newly prepared pad.
Crew-9’s main objective is to support the safe return of NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been on the ISS since June after technical problems left Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft unable to bring them back. Their originally scheduled 8-day mission has now stretched to months, with their return planned for early 2025.
Alongside this priority task, the Crew-9 astronauts will also support hundreds of ongoing scientific experiments aboard the ISS, contributing to long-duration human spaceflight research.