Cape Canaveral, Florida – SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission is set to arrive at the International Space Station (ISS) today. The Crew Dragon capsule, named Freedom, will dock with the ISS around 5:30 p.m. EDT. The entire rendezvous process can be watched live on NASA+ and the agency’s website, starting at 3:30 p.m. EDT.

Launched on Saturday from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, the Crew-9 mission sent NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov into orbit. Hague, a colonel in the U.S. Space Force, became the first active member of this military branch to reach space.

Notably, the Crew-9 mission departed with only two astronauts instead of the typical four, as NASA reserved seats for two individuals already at the ISS in need of a ride home. These two individuals, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, arrived on the ISS in June aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule. Originally scheduled for a 10-day stay, their mission was extended due to thruster problems with the Starliner capsule.

After deeming it too risky to bring Wilmore and Williams home on Starliner, the capsule returned uncrewed to Earth on September 7. Wilmore and Williams will now return on the Crew Dragon capsule, along with Hague and Gorbunov, when the Crew-9 mission concludes in February 2025.

Currently, there are nine astronauts on the ISS, including NASA’s Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick, Jeanette Epps, and Donald Pettit, as well as cosmonauts Alexander Grebenkin, Aleksey Ovchinin, and Ivan Wagner. Barratt, Dominick, Epps, and Grebenkin are part of SpaceX’s Crew-8 mission, which is scheduled to return to Earth shortly after the Crew-9 mission arrives.