Four astronauts on board the SpaceX Crew-9 mission successfully relocated their crew Dragon capsule, Freedom to a new docking port onboard the International Space Station early Sunday, November 3. This was to ensure room for an arriving cargo ship set to launch on Friday, November 4.
It was an undocking from the Harmony module at 6:35 a.m. EST (1335 GMT), followed by redocking at 7:25 a.m. EST (1425 GMT). During this time, the space capsule rotated from the forward-facing port to the space-facing port, flying over southern Brazil, NASA reports say.
The cargo launch, on November 5, would be a Dragon space filled with more than three tons of supplies to assist the ISS crew. And to this end, all is set for the craft’s launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 9:29 p.m. EST or 0229 GMT today, set to arrive the morning of November 5.
The Crew-9 mission is to be launched with a NASA astronaut, Nick Hague and a Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov onboard. Two former Boeing astronauts who initially were assigned in the same Starliner would now also join the same mission since they were initially reassigned from the actual assignment as problems were surfacing within the spacecraft. NASA deemed it too risky for Wilmore and Williams to come back on the Starliner after unforeseen propulsion issues surfaced during a June 6 docking attempt that needed nearly two months of troubleshooting.
To ensure safe return, NASA replaced Wilmore and Williams with two other astronauts on the list for Crew-9: Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson, who are still eligible to fly on future ISS missions.
The crew members will return to Earth on Dragon Freedom in February 2025. As they wait for their flight back, the successful relocation of its capsule also reflects the continuous commitment of SpaceX to support the operations in ISS and to ensure safe crew transportation.
