Here’s Why NASA Is Delaying Its Crew 9 Mission By More Than A Month

An upcoming mission to the International Space Station is reportedly being pushed from its intended launch date of August 18 to September 24, and there’s a major issue being blamed for the delay.

Crew 9 Overview

The NASA mission was expected to send three Americans and one Russian to the ISS for about six months. But those plans have undergone some revisions lately due to malfunctions with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which left two astronauts effectively stuck on the ISS for much longer than anticipated without a clear date for their return to Earth.

Now, NASA is considering launching Crew 9 with just two astronauts, and there’s still no confirmation that the Starliner will be able to retrieve the crew members currently residing in the space station.

In fact, there’s mounting evidence that an entirely different craft could be sent to bring the stranded astronauts home. And all of this confusion is only making the Crew 9 mission that much more difficult to finalize.

By delaying the launch, engineers will have more time to ensure that everything is in place and up for the task of bringing back the two astronauts currently on the ISS — a process that might necessitate some significant software updates.

ISS limitations

Another reason the Starliner fiasco has thrown the Crew 9 mission into disarray involves a core component of the space station. The ISS contains a pair of docking ports, one of which is already being occupied by Starliner while the other has been docked by the Crew 8 craft.

The latter is set to return to Earth in the near future, but a new craft cannot dock until a port becomes available.

For its part, Boeing remains publicly optimistic that Starliner will be up to the task of returning safely with its two passengers aboard.

Chris Agee August 6th, 2024

Share this story: