NASA, SpaceX Targeting Aug. 18 for Crew-9 Mission to Space Station

NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 stands in front of a Falcon 9 first-stage booster at SpaceX's HangarX facility in Florida. Credit: SpaceX

NASA and SpaceX officials announced during a news conference Friday their plan to launch the agency's SpaceX Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station no earlier than Sunday, Aug. 18. Watch a full replay of the news conference.

Crew-9 is the ninth crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the space station under NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission will carry NASA astronauts Zena Cardman, spacecraft commander; Nick Hague, pilot; and Stephanie Wilson, mission specialist; as well as Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov to the orbiting laboratory for a six-month science mission. This will be the first spaceflight for Cardman and Gorbunov, the second mission to the space station for Hague, and the fourth spaceflight for Wilson, who has spent 42 days in space aboard three space shuttle Discovery missions - STS-120, STS-121, and STS-131.

During a separate crew news conference later on Friday, Cardman, Hague, Wilson, and Gorbunov answered reporters' questions and discussed topics such as the inspiration behind the Crew-9 mission patch design, research they'll complete in microgravity, and how they prepare for a long-duration flight. Watch a full replay of the crew news conference here.

"I am absolutely honored to be here with my crewmates, who have been an awesome team - Nick, Stephanie, and Alex. They have shown so much technical excellence. They are also deeply kind and incredible teammates who have been really fun to work with, which has just made this a dream assignment for me," said Cardman.

The international crew will lift off from NASA Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A in Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft. The Dragon spacecraft supporting this flight, named Freedom, previously flew on SpaceX's Crew-4 and Axiom Space's Ax-2 and Ax-3 missions.

More details about the mission can be found by following the commercial crew blog, @commercial_crew on Twitter, or commercial crew on Facebook.

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