By Blake Wolf, OAN Staff
Friday, August 30, 2024 5:41 PM
NASA has decided to cut two astronauts scheduled for the next SpaceX mission to make room for two NASA astronauts who have been stranded on the International Space Station since June, the organization announced.
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NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson are the unlucky duo removed from an impending mission to replace astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who are stranded due to a safety issue with their Boeing Starliner capsule.
Williams and Wilmore began their space mission on June 5th.NumberWhat was initially expected to take several weeks has now stretched to several months as engineers continue to troubleshoot helium leaks and thruster malfunctions that are causing the delay.
Although Cardman and Wilson have been removed from the mission, they remain “eligible for redeployment to future missions,” NASA said.
The two have been replaced by astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut and mission specialist Alexander Gorbunov, who will accompany SpaceX on its Crew 9 rescue mission scheduled for September.
This mission will be Gorbunov's first flight, while veteran Haig has been in space twice before.
“While we have made crew changes in the past for a variety of reasons, reducing the crew size on this flight was a difficult decision to adapt to given that the crew has been trained as a four-person crew,” said NASA chief astronaut Joe Acaba. “I have the utmost confidence in the entire crew, who have performed exceptionally well throughout their training for the mission.”
“Xena and Stephanie will continue to support their fellow crew members prior to launch and exemplify what it means to be a professional astronaut,” Acaba continued.
The mission is scheduled to launch at the end of September aboard a SpaceX Dragon.
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