Two-man crew bound for space station, will give Starliner astronauts a ride home in February

NASA's 10th Crew Dragon flight to the International Space Station is ready for launch Saturday with two long-duration crew members on board along with two empty seats that will be used next February to carry Boeing's Starliner astronauts back to Earth after an extended stay in orbit.

Crew 9 commander Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov are scheduled for liftoff from pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station atop a Falcon 9 rocket at 1:17 p.m. EDT Saturday, roughly the moment Earth's rotation carries the rocket into alignment with the station's orbit.

Already delayed two days by high winds and clouds associated with Hurricane Helene, forecasters predicted a 55 percent chance of acceptable weather along Florida's Space Coast. There was a "moderate" risk of high winds and waves in the Atlantic Ocean along the spacecraft's trajectory where the crew might have to land in an abort.