The Stars My Destination: Crew-9

Better Late than Never | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

The Space Age
28 September 2024-18 March 2025: Commander Nick Hague (N.A.S.A.) & Mission Specialist Aleksandr Gorbunov (Roscosmos) lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's SLC-40 aboard the Crew Dragon Freedom (C212) atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The duo docked with the International Space Station for a six-month mission to the orbital laboratory.

Former Boe-C.F.T. astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore (N.A.S.A.) & Suni Williams (N.A.S.A.), already aboard the I.S.S., joined Crew-9 & transferred their seats to the Freedom from Crew-8's Crew Dragon Endeavour. After one hundred seventy-one days on orbit, the Freedom splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean & was recovered by the M.V. Megan.

Hague was a veteran of two previous spaceflights (the Soyuz MS-10 suborbital launch abort & Soyuz MS-12 for Expeditions 59 & 60); Gorbunov was a rookie.

Crew-9 was the fourth flight of the Freedom.

Wilmore & Williams served as part of International Space Station Expeditions 71 & 72; Hague & Gorbunov served as part of Expedition 72.

The original Crew-9 consisted of Commander Zena Cardman (N.A.S.A.), Pilot Nick Hague (N.A.S.A.), Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson (N.A.S.A.), & M.S. Aleksandr Gorbunov (Roscosmos). Cardman was reassigned to Crew-11; Wilson has not yet been assigned to a replacement spaceflight.

Bonus! Song o' the Day: Crew-9 & the Freedom
Less Than Jake, "Nine-One-One to Anyone" from B is for B-Sides (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Wayback Machine Tour of Launch America
2020
Demo-2 Launch
Demo-2 Splashdown
Crew-1 Launch
2021
Crew-1 Relocation
Crew-2 Launch
Crew-1 Splashdown
Inspiration4 Launch & Splashdown
Crew-2 Splashdown
Crew-3 Launch
2022
Ax-1 Launch & Splashdown
Crew-4 Launch
Crew-3 Splashdown
Crew-5 Launch
Crew-4 Splashdown
2023
Crew-6 Scrub
Crew-6 Launch
Crew-5 Splashdown
Ax-2 Launch & Splashdown
Crew-7 Launch
Crew-6 Splashdown
2024
Ax-3 Launch & Splashdown
Crew-7 Splashdown
Crew-8 Launch & Splashdown
Boe-C.F.T. Launch & Landing
Polaris Dawn Launch & Splashdown

Godspeed & welcome back to the good Earth, Crew-9!