NASA, SpaceX launch capsule to bring home Starliner astronauts

NASA and SpaceX launched a spacecraft Saturday afternoon that will head to the International Space Station and bring two astronauts back to Earth in February.

The SpaceX Crew-9 Dragon took off with two empty seats and extra spacesuits for Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams, who have been in space since June. Wilmore and Williams performed the first crewed test flight of Boeing's Starliner and were supposed to be on the ISS for about a week.

NASA and Boeing officials decided to send Starliner back to Earth after several mechanical issues, keeping Wilmore and Williams onboard the ISS until February 2025.

The unmanned Starliner landed safely at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico in the early hours of Sept. 7.

The Dragon spacecraft was originally scheduled to travel to the ISS with four astronauts for a routine science mission. Astronauts Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov will crew the spacecraft to the ISS.

It is expected to take 28.5 hours for the spacecraft to autonomously dock to the space station at 5:30 p.m. ET Sunday, Sept. 29, while traveling 17,000 mph orbiting the Earth, according to NASA.