SpaceX Launches Cosmonaut into Orbit
Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov has reached the International Space Station using Elon Musk’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. Read Full Article at RT.com.
TroibNews 
Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov has commenced a five-month mission at the International Space Station, having arrived aboard Elon Musk’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. He marks the fifth Russian to travel on a SpaceX ferry.
The Crew-9 mission, which is NASA's ninth operational commercial crew initiative, was launched by a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Saturday. The Crew Dragon, which also transported US astronaut Nick Hague, successfully reached its designated orbit and autonomously docked with the ISS on Sunday afternoon. NASA provided live coverage of the docking event online.
Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, shared his thoughts on the docking in a brief post on X: “Dragon has reached @Space_Station.”
Gorbunov, affiliated with Russia’s state space agency, is on his inaugural mission and will take on the role of flight engineer.
During their five-month stay at the orbiting laboratory, Gorbunov and Hague will join the ISS’s Expedition 72 team, which includes Roscosmos cosmonauts Aleksandr Grebenkin, Aleksey Ovchinin, and Ivan Vagner, along with NASA astronauts Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick, Jeanette Epps, Don Pettit, Butch Wilmore, and Suni Williams.
Gorbunov and Hague are set to return to Earth in February, alongside Wilmore and Williams, who have been aboard the ISS since June. They had arrived for a weeklong test mission with a Boeing Starliner, which, unfortunately, encountered technical problems and returned empty in early September.
Members of Crew-8, including Barratt, Dominick, Epps, and Grebenkin, are scheduled to leave the space station aboard the Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft in early October.
Roscosmos and NASA have a cross-flight program in place until at least 2025. This initiative, started in 2022 and extended the following year, includes sending one American astronaut to the ISS on a Russian spacecraft and one Russian cosmonaut as part of an American crew. Roscosmos reports that Gorbunov is the 25th Russian cosmonaut to fly on an American vehicle and the fifth on a Crew Dragon.
Mark B Thomas contributed to this report for TROIB News
The Crew-9 mission, which is NASA's ninth operational commercial crew initiative, was launched by a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Saturday. The Crew Dragon, which also transported US astronaut Nick Hague, successfully reached its designated orbit and autonomously docked with the ISS on Sunday afternoon. NASA provided live coverage of the docking event online.
Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, shared his thoughts on the docking in a brief post on X: “Dragon has reached @Space_Station.”
Gorbunov, affiliated with Russia’s state space agency, is on his inaugural mission and will take on the role of flight engineer.
During their five-month stay at the orbiting laboratory, Gorbunov and Hague will join the ISS’s Expedition 72 team, which includes Roscosmos cosmonauts Aleksandr Grebenkin, Aleksey Ovchinin, and Ivan Vagner, along with NASA astronauts Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick, Jeanette Epps, Don Pettit, Butch Wilmore, and Suni Williams.
Gorbunov and Hague are set to return to Earth in February, alongside Wilmore and Williams, who have been aboard the ISS since June. They had arrived for a weeklong test mission with a Boeing Starliner, which, unfortunately, encountered technical problems and returned empty in early September.
Members of Crew-8, including Barratt, Dominick, Epps, and Grebenkin, are scheduled to leave the space station aboard the Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft in early October.
Roscosmos and NASA have a cross-flight program in place until at least 2025. This initiative, started in 2022 and extended the following year, includes sending one American astronaut to the ISS on a Russian spacecraft and one Russian cosmonaut as part of an American crew. Roscosmos reports that Gorbunov is the 25th Russian cosmonaut to fly on an American vehicle and the fifth on a Crew Dragon.
Mark B Thomas contributed to this report for TROIB News
