Hague and Gorbunov to fly Crew-9 mission to ISS

WASHINGTON — A veteran NASA astronaut and rookie Russian cosmonaut will fly to the Worldwide Area Station in September because the downsized crew of a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, a ripple impact of issues with Boeing’s Starliner.

NASA introduced Aug. 30 that Nick Hague will function commander of Crew-9, joined by mission specialist Aleksandr Gorbunov of Roscosmos. The mission is scheduled to launch no sooner than Sept. 24 on the Crew Dragon spacecraft Freedom.

Each had been beforehand assigned to Crew-9, with Hague as pilot. The unique crew additionally included NASA astronauts Zena Cardman as commander and Stephanie Wilson as mission specialist.

Nevertheless, NASA determined to take away Cardman and Wilson from the flight, and make Hague commander, to release two of the 4 seats on Crew Dragon. That may enable astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to return on the spacecraft when the Crew-9 mission ends in February 2025.

Wilmore and Williams flew to the station in June on the Starliner Crew Flight Take a look at (CFT) mission for a keep initially projected to be as quick as eight days. Nevertheless, considerations concerning the efficiency of Starliner’s thrusters led NASA to announce Aug. 24 that Starliner would return uncrewed, with Wilmore and Williams remaining on the station as now a part of a long-duration crew.

The company stated in an announcement that Joe Acaba, NASA chief astronaut, made the choice to maintain Hague and Gorbunov on Crew-9. “Acaba needed to steadiness flying a NASA crew member with earlier spaceflight expertise to command the flight, whereas guaranteeing NASA maintains an built-in crew with a Roscosmos cosmonaut who can function their crucial methods for continued, protected station operations,” the company acknowledged.

“Whereas we’ve modified crew earlier than for a wide range of causes, downsizing crew for this flight was one other powerful choice to regulate to on condition that the crew has educated as a crew of 4,” Acaba stated in an announcement. “Zena and Stephanie will proceed to help their crewmates forward of launch, they usually exemplify what it means to be knowledgeable astronaut.”

Preliminary hypothesis had Cardman remaining on the mission as commander together with Gorbunov. Cardman, although, could be making her first spaceflight, as will Gorbunov. Hague flew on the aborted Soyuz MS-10 mission in October 2018, when the Soyuz spacecraft’s escape system took the capsule away from its malfunctioning rocket, touchdown close to the Baikonur Cosmodrome. He flew on Soyuz MS-12 in 2019, spending 203 days on the station.

“I’m deeply happy with our complete crew,” stated Cardman within the NASA assertion, “and I’m assured Nick and Alex will step into their roles with excellence.” NASA stated that each Cardman and Wilson will likely be reassigned to approaching missions.

Gorbunov was anticipated to be retained in any state of affairs to take care of “built-in crews” such that there’s a minimum of one American and one Russian on the station ought to both Soyuz or industrial crew autos develop into unavailable. The upcoming Soyuz MS-26 mission to the ISS, scheduled to launch Sept. 11, will carry NASA astronaut Don Pettit together with Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner.

NASA introduced Aug. 28 that it assigned astronaut Jonny Kim to the next Soyuz mission to the ISS, Soyuz MS-27 in March 2025. Kim had been coaching as Pettit’s backup.

Plans for built-in crews past that mission are unsure. Roscosmos introduced Aug. 21 that it assigned crews to the Soyuz MS-28 mission in late 2025 and Soyuz MS-29 in 2026. Each missions will likely be crewed totally by Roscosmos cosmonauts, the company stated.

Associated