During the mission conducted by SpaceX to rescue two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station, an unexpected malfunction occurred. Following the malfunction, the use of the Falcon 9 rocket was temporarily halted. Astronauts Barry Wilmore and Suni Williams, who went to space with the Starliner vehicle and got stranded, will return to Earth in February as planned. The Crew Dragon spacecraft launched from the Cape Canaveral Space Center in Florida on Saturday successfully arrived at the International Space Station where NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams were marooned.
The Boeing Starliner vehicle that carried astronauts into space malfunctioned earlier this month, having to return to Earth unmanned. SpaceX announced encountering an issue during the return to Earth after launching the Crew Dragon into orbit using the Falcon 9 rocket. The company shared in a post after the launch, “Following the successful launch of Crew-9 today, Falcon 9’s second stage was deployed as planned into the ocean but experienced an unexpected off-nominal burn.” The Dragon capsule successfully docked with the International Space Station and is expected to bring the astronauts back to Earth in February. This year’s Falcon 9 launch was the 90th occurrence, with SpaceX having conducted a total of 96 orbital launches by 2024.
The next Falcon 9 launch was scheduled for Sunday to deploy Starlink satellites into space, but the mission was suspended until the issue is resolved. The Starliner sent to the ISS on June 6 experienced helium thruster problems, resulting in an extended stay for astronauts Williams and Wilmore in space.
Ultimately, the agency decided to land the capsule unmanned, which occurred on September 7. NASA had previously announced that the astronauts stranded in the ISS would return to Earth with the Crew-9 mission in February 2025.