NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will launch no sooner than September 24, on the company’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission to the Worldwide House Station.
The up to date crew complement follows NASA’s choice to return the company’s Boeing Crew Flight Check uncrewed and launch Crew-9 with two unoccupied seats. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who launched aboard the Starliner spacecraft in June, will fly dwelling with Hague and Gorbunov in February 2025, a press launch by NASA stated.
NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson, beforehand introduced as crewmates, are eligible for reassignment on a future mission. Hague and Gorbunov will fly to the area station as commander and mission specialist, respectively, as a part of a two-crew member flight aboard a SpaceX Dragon.
The choice to fly Hague was made by NASA chief astronaut Joe Acaba on the company’s Johnson House Middle in Houston. 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 vital techniques for continued, secure station operations.
“Whereas we have modified crew earlier than for quite a lot of causes, downsizing crew for this flight was one other robust choice to regulate to provided that the crew has skilled as a crew of 4,” stated Acaba.
“I’ve the utmost confidence in all our crew, who’ve been wonderful all through coaching for the mission. Zena and Stephanie will proceed to help their crewmates forward of launch, they usually exemplify what it means to be an expert astronaut.”
The company will share reassignment particulars for Cardman and Wilson when accessible, the discharge added. “I’m deeply pleased with our whole crew,” stated Cardman, “and I’m assured Nick and Alex will step into their roles with excellence. All 4 of us stay devoted to the success of this mission, and Stephanie and I sit up for flying when the time is true.”
Wilson added, “I do know Nick and Alex will do an amazing job with their work aboard the Worldwide House Station as a part of Expedition 72.” With 203 days logged in area, this shall be Hague’s third launch and second mission to the orbiting laboratory. Throughout his first launch in October 2018, Hague and his crewmate, Roscosmos’ Alexey Ovchinin, skilled a rocket booster failure, leading to an in-flight, post-launch abort, ballistic re-entry, and secure touchdown of their Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft.
5 months later, Hague launched aboard Soyuz MS-12 and served as a flight engineer aboard the area station throughout Expeditions 59 and 60. Hague performed three spacewalks to improve area station energy techniques and set up a docking adapter for business spacecraft.
An active-duty colonel within the US House Drive, Hague accomplished a developmental rotation on the Protection Division and served because the House Drive’s director of take a look at and analysis from 2020 to 2022. In August 2022, Hague resumed duties at NASA, engaged on the Boeing Starliner Program till this flight project.
This shall be Gorbunov’s first journey to area and the station. Born in Zheleznogorsk, Kursk area, Russia, he studied engineering with {qualifications} in spacecraft and higher levels from the Moscow Aviation Institute.
Gorbunov graduated from the navy division with a speciality in working and repairing plane, helicopters, and plane engines. Earlier than his choice as a cosmonaut in 2018, he labored as an engineer for Rocket House Corp. Energia and supported cargo spacecraft launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the discharge added.
Hague and Gorbonov will turn out to be members of the Expedition 72 crew aboard the station. They’ll be a part of Wilmore, Williams, fellow NASA astronaut Don Pettit, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner conducting scientific analysis and upkeep actions into the station’s twenty fourth 12 months of steady human presence.Â
