NASA said the SpaceX rocket took off on Saturday with two passengers on board, leaving two seats open for the return of American astronauts who have been stranded on the International Space Station for months. The Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 13:17 (1717 GMT). A new launch pad was used for the first time on a manned mission.

“Congratulations to @NASA and @SpaceX on the successful launch,” NASA chief Bill Nelson said in a post on X. “We live in an exciting era of exploration and innovation in space.”

NASA astronaut Nick Haig and Russian cosmonaut Oleksandr Gorbunov were also on board.

When they return from the space station in February, they will bring with them Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, two space veterans whose stay on the ISS was extended by several months due to problems with the Boeing-designed Starliner spacecraft.

The new Starliner made its first crewed flight when it delivered Wilmore and Williams to the ISS in June.

They were only supposed to stay there for eight days, but when problems arose with the Starliner’s power plant during the flight, NASA had to consider a radical change in plans.

“A Little Bit Unique”

After weeks of intense testing on the Starliner’s reliability, the space agency finally decided to return it to Earth without a crew and bring the two stranded astronauts home aboard the SpaceX Crew-9 mission.

“We know this launch is unique in terms of moving from a single-crew plan to a two-crew plan,” NASA Deputy Administrator Jim Free told reporters. “I want to thank SpaceX for their support and flexibility.”

SpaceX, a private company founded by billionaire Elon Musk, operates regular flights every six months to ensure crew rotation of the ISS. But Crew 9’s launch was delayed from mid-August to the end of September to give NASA experts more time to evaluate the Starliner’s reliability and decide what to do next.

It was then postponed for a few more days due to the devastating passage of Hurricane Helen, the powerful storm that ravaged the opposite coast of Florida on Thursday. SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft will dock with the ISS around 21-30 GMT on Sunday.

Following the transfer of duty, four members of the No. 8 crew will return to Earth on another SpaceX ship. Haig and Gorbunov will spend approximately five months in total on the ISS; Wilmore and Williams, eight months. Crew-9 will conduct approximately 200 scientific experiments in total.