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‘Elon to the rescue!’ SpaceX launches mission to get stranded astronauts home

September 29, 2024 | | Print Article

Boeing’s bust set SpaceX up for success as Elon Musk’s rocket company launched a never-before-seen rescue mission.

Likened to a real world Iron Man, the billionaire entrepreneur’s innovative efforts have helped bring the stuff of science fiction into everyday use. Saturday, liftoff from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station set in motion the rescue of two stranded American astronauts whose eight day orbit is expected to reach eight months.

“Crew-9 is on their way to the @Space_Station! Congrats to @NASA and @SpaceX on a successful launch,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson captioned footage of the launch. “We live in an exiting period of exploration and innovation in the stars. Looking forward to all the discoveries #Crew9 will make aboard the Station.”

Riding aboard Saturday’s Crew-9 Dragon launch, Phys.org detailed how NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov’s mission left two empty seats to facilitate the return of American astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams come February.

As previously covered, Wilmore and Williams had traveled to the International Space Station aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft in June for a mission that was only meant to last little more than a week.

However, “helium leaks and thruster issues” had delayed their departure as investigations took place that resulted in the vessel making an uncrewed return, stranding the astronauts aboard the ISS. Despite regular clashes with federal agencies, Musk’s SpaceX stepped up where Boeing had failed to see that the Americans be brought safely back to Earth.

According to the SpaceX website, Dragon had so far had 47 launches of which 42 had visited the ISS with a capability of carrying as many as seven passengers there and back. It also boasts of being “the only spacecraft currently flying that is capable of returning significant amounts of cargo to Earth, and is the first private spacecraft to take humans to the space station.”

In addition to accusations from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) about the company allegedly forcing employees to sign illegal severance agreements, SpaceX has also had to contend with Federal Aviation Administration bureaucracy, hampering their ability to progress.

With China eyeballing a manned mission to land on the Moon by 2030, Musk’s own ambitions for a manned mission to Mars within four years found him griping on X, “Meanwhile, back in America, the @FAANews is smothering the national space program in kafkaesque paperwork!”

While Boeing and NASA were criticized for focus on DEI and other virtue signaling and Vice President Kamala Harris had been blasted as chair of the National Space Council during the mission, the world’s richest man continued to be hailed as a hero as his personal quest to see humans become a multi-planetary species positioned SpaceX to bring “Elon to the rescue!”

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Kevin Haggerty
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