First Space Force Guardian will launch into space this summer

The U.S. Space Force plans to send the first Guardian into space this summer on a mission with other astronauts. NASA announced Wednesday.

Space Force Col. Tyler “Nick” Haig is scheduled to join three other astronauts on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) by August.

This team will replace the ISS’s current Crew 8.

Haag will be the first Guardian launched into space, while now-retired U.S. Space Force Col. Mike Hopkins was awarded the First Guardian Launched into Space award in 2020. From Air Force to Space Force.

Next flight from The Hague First reported by Defense One. Jerry Porter, director of communications for Space Launch Delta 45, announced at a conference event on Tuesday that the first Guardian will head into space, the newspaper reported.

Haag was selected as an astronaut in 2013 and traveled to the ISS for the first time in 2018. From 2020 he served as Director of Test and Evaluation at the Space Force until 2022, after which he returned to NASA.

Former President Trump created the Space Force in 2019, but the nation’s newest military branch has yet to send personnel to space. Space Force officials said the day Guardian actually flies into space could be a long time away.

Other astronauts flying this summer include Zena Cardman and mission specialist Stephanie Wilson. Russian Roscosmos cosmonaut mission specialist Alexander Gorbunov will also take part in the flight.