Russians and Americans have successfully launched

NASA astronaut Nick Haag and cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov took off on time aboard a ‘Crew Dragon’ of tech billionaire Elon Musk’s private space company SpaceX from the Cape Canaveral spaceport in the American state of Florida, live images from the American space agency NASA showed.

The weather was still the biggest concern on Saturday. Rain and storms until shortly before the start posed a risk. The ‘Crew Dragon’ is expected at the ISS on Sunday. There, the crew will conduct scientific experiments for several months as part of their mission.

Learning from space for Earth
Experiments will include experiments on the physics of supernova explosions, on cells and on the growth conditions of plants, which will also provide important insights into life on Earth.

Actually, the two astronauts Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson should have been part of the now launched ‘Crew 9’. However, they had to leave their seats so that the two astronauts Suni Williams and Barry Wilmore, who were stranded on the ISS due to technical problems with the ‘Starliner’ spacecraft, could be brought back to Earth.

Planned to return together
Williams and Wilmore were actually only supposed to spend about a week aboard the ISS. Due to technical problems with the ‘Starliner’ they flew to the ISS in June, NASA subsequently decided to return the spacecraft empty to Earth. Williams and Wilmore are now scheduled to return to Earth along with The Hague and Gorbunow in February.