Florida: NASA and SpaceX successfully launched the "Crew-9" mission on Saturday, marking the ninth crew rotation mission to the International Space Station (ISS) under NASA's Commercial Crew Program with SpaceX. The launch took place at 1:17 p.m. Eastern Time (1817 GMT) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Aboard the Dragon spacecraft were NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. The spacecraft, propelled by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, is scheduled to dock with the ISS at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time (2230 GMT) on Sunday, according to NASA.

During their time aboard the ISS, the Crew-9 astronauts will conduct over 200 scientific investigations, including research on blood clotting, the effects of moisture on plants in space, and vision changes experienced by astronauts during prolonged space missions.

The mission is expected to conclude next February, when the Crew-9 astronauts will return to Earth. They will be joined by NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been stranded in space since June following issues with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft during a previous mission.