NASA has cut two astronauts from the next SpaceX mission in order to bring home two astronauts who are trapped on the International Space Station (ISS), the space agency announced. Announced on friday.
Astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut and mission specialist Alexander Gorbunov are scheduled to head into space in late September as part of SpaceX's Crew 9 mission, the space agency announced in a news release.
NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson, who were scheduled to accompany the mission, will not be taking part in the flight, and NASA said they are “eligible to be redeployed to a future mission.”
The adjustments will free up two seats to accommodate the return of NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been unable to return to Earth from the ISS due to safety issues with the Boeing Starliner capsule.
After multiple delays due to helium leaks and thruster failures, Williams and Wilmore launched into space on June 5. What was originally scheduled to last less than two weeks turned into a months-long expedition, and the pair are now docked at the International Space Station.
NASA announced last week that Williams and Wilmore will return to Earth in February, but Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, its first crewed spaceflight, is scheduled to return uncrewed in September.
“While we have made previous crew changes for a variety of reasons, reducing the crew size for this flight was a difficult decision to coordinate given that the crew had been training as a four-person crew,” NASA chief astronaut Joe Acaba said in a statement. “I have the utmost confidence in the entire crew, who have performed exceptionally well throughout their training for this 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 said.
This will be Gorbunov's first flight, while Haig, a former test pilot, has been in space twice before.
