SpaceX finally launches rocket mission in effort to get delayed astronauts home

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. – The highly anticipated launch of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon spacecraft, part of NASA’s mission to help bring astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore back to Earth, took place on Friday.

The rocket launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center around 7 p.m. local time, just before sunset occurred along the Florida coast.

Astronauts Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov are expected to arrive at the International Space Station late on Saturday.

FUTURE OF NASA’S MEGA MOON ROCKET APPEARS IN DOUBT FOLLOWING MAJOR BOEING ANNOUNCEMENT

Astronauts Williams and Wilmore, who are aboard the ISS, have garnered headlines over how long their mission has been extended, but their ride back to Earth has been at the ISS since Sept. 29.

Since 2000, NASA has generally operated under the notion that it never leaves the space station without a significant contingent of Americans on board; hence, Crew-9 is awaiting Crew-10's arrival before its departure.

The space agency says there will be a short handover period after Crew-10 arrives at the space station before Crew-9 gets ready to depart.

The arrival of Williams, Wilmore and NASA astronaut Nick Hague, with Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, will depend on weather conditions around the Florida coast, but a splashdown attempt is not expected before March 18.

BOEING STARLINER RETURNS HOME TO EARTH WITHOUT ASTRONAUTS, MARKING END OF TUMULTUOUS MISSION

Boeing's Starliner, the spacecraft designated to bring Williams and Wilmore home, safely landed in the New Mexican desert in September, despite concerns about its operations. 

The Starliner program now faces an uncertain future, with only one approved method currently viable for astronauts to return to U.S. soil. 

The space agency's goals are likely to remain in flux until Jared Isaacman, President Donald Trump's nominee to lead NASA, is confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

The billionaire entrepreneur and private astronaut, a close associate of Elon Musk, has flown on two SpaceX missions.