NASA, SpaceX prepare to launch capsule to bring home Starliner astronauts

NASA and SpaceX are set to launch a critical mission Saturday to bring home the two astronauts who flew Boeing's Starliner to the International Space Station.

The SpaceX Crew-9 Dragon will take 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 the Starliner and were supposed to be on the ISS for about a week.

NASA and Boeing officials decided to send Starliner back to Earth last month 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.