Just two weeks after SpaceX completed the historic Polaris Dawn mission, which included the first private spacewalk and the highest orbit since the Apollo era...
... Elon Musk's space company launched a Falcon rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Saturday to rescue the stranded Boeing Starliner astronauts on the International Space Station.
NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov are aboard the Dragon capsule and will reach the ISS on Sunday afternoon.
Since NASA rotates ISS crews every six months, the stranded astronauts, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, won't return to Earth until late February.
Boeing's first astronaut flight with the Starliner launched in June was only supposed to last a week, but multiple failures, including thruster troubles and helium leaks, led NASA officials to deem the spacecraft too dangerous for Williams and Wilmore. The crewless Starliner returned to Earth earlier this month, landing without a problem in New Mexico.
After Saturday's launch, NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy said "human spaceflight" is very "complicated and dynamic."
SpaceX noted after launch.
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