NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Members Suit Up

NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 crew members are seated inside the crew suit-up room in the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of launch to the International Space Station on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. NASA astronaut Nick Hague (left) and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov are scheduled to lift off aboard SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket at 1:17 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Crew-9 is the ninth crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the space station as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program. Photo credit: NASA

NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov are in the process of suit-up operations in the Astronaut Crew Quarters inside NASA Kennedy Space Center's Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building in Florida.

The crew are sitting in seats configured like the ones they will occupy inside the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft during launch. Technicians are pressurizing the suits and checking for any leaks. Each 3D-printed helmet includes a communications system and valves to regulate the suit's pressure systems. A port on the suit's thigh connects to life support systems, including air and power.

Once suited, Hague and Gorbunov soon will play the ritual card game that occurs before any human spaceflight mission launching from the Florida spaceport. The point of the game is that the commander must use up all his or her bad luck before the launch, so the crew can only leave for the launch pad once the commander loses.

[Link]NASA's Crew-9 crewmembers play ritual card game on launch day, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2024. Photo credit: NASA

Launch is targeted for 1:17 p.m. EDTat Space Launch Complex-40 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This is the first time a human spaceflight mission will launch from the pad.

NASA's live coverage of the Crew-9 mission continues on NASA+and the agency's website.

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