SpaceX on Saturday launched a rescue mission for two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station, sending a skeleton crew to bring them home — but not until next year.
The capsule was launched into orbit to bring back test pilots whose Boeing spacecraft returned empty to Earth earlier this month due to safety concerns. The change of journey left NASA’s Nick Hague and Russia’s Alexander Gorbunov in charge of operations to recover Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.
Since NASA rotates space station crews roughly every six months, this newly launched flight with two empty seats reserved for Wilmore and Williams won’t return until late February. Officials said there was no way to bring them back sooner on a SpaceX vehicle without disrupting other scheduled missions.
By the time they return, the couple will have spent more than eight months in space. They had expected to be gone for just a week when they signed up for Boeing’s first astronaut flight, which launched in June.
Ultimately, NASA decided Boeing’s Starliner posed too much risk after its journey to the orbital complex was marred by a series of thruster problems and helium leaks. The space agency removed two astronauts from its SpaceX launch to make room for Wilmore and Williams on the return leg.
Williams has since been promoted to commander of the space station, which will soon return to its normal population of seven. Once Hague and Gorbunov arrive this weekend, four astronauts who have been living there since March will be able to depart in their own SpaceX capsule. Their return home was delayed a month because of the problems with the Starliner.
Hague noted before liftoff that change is a constant in human spaceflight. “There is always something that is changing. Maybe this time it was a little more visible to the public,” he said.
Hague took over as commander of the rescue mission because of his experience handling a launch emergency six years ago. The Russian rocket failed shortly after liftoff and the capsule carrying him and a cosmonaut ejected safely.
NASA rookie astronaut Zena Cardman and veteran space pilot Stephanie Wilson were removed from this flight after NASA opted for SpaceX to bring the stranded astronauts back to Earth. The space agency noted that both will be eligible for future missions. Gorbunov remained under an exchange agreement between NASA and the Russian Space Agency.
“I don’t know exactly when I’ll launch into space, but I know I’ll get there,” Cardman said from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, where he participated in the live broadcast of the launch.
Hague acknowledged the challenges of launching with a half-crew and returning with two astronauts trained for another spacecraft.
“We have a dynamic challenge ahead of us,” Hague said after arriving from Houston last weekend. “We know each other, we are professionals, we step up and do what is asked of us.”
SpaceX has long been the leader in NASA’s commercial crew program, established as the space shuttles were retiring more than a decade ago. SpaceX beat Boeing to transport astronauts to the space station in 2020 and is now up to 10 crewed flights for NASA.