A SpaceX spacecraft has lifted off to rescue two astronauts stranded at the International Space Station (ISS) due to technical issues. NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian astronaut Aleksandr Gorbunov took off on Saturday from Cape Canaveral,

Because NASA rotates space station crews approximately every six months, this newly launched flight with two empty seats reserved for Wilmore and Williams won’t return until late February. Officials said there wasn’t a way to bring them back earlier on SpaceX without interrupting other scheduled missions.

Two astronauts were launched on a five-month mission that also hopes to rescue two NASA astronauts left behind on the ISS. The four are expected to return to Earth in February.

Nick Hague, who was born in Belleville and grew up in Hoxie, will be the commander of the Crew-9 mission that is set to take off from Kennedy Space Center

SpaceX on Saturday successfully launched its Crew 9 spacecraft from Space Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Two astronauts — one American, one Russian — will launch on a flight that is set to bring the Boeing Starliner astronauts home next year.

Lifted by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, two astronauts left Earth on Saturday afternoon, headed to the International Space Station. Such launches, taking a new complement of crew to the space station every six months or so,