NASA unveiled the names of the astronauts assigned to the SpaceX Crew-9 mission, the ninth rotational mission to the International Space Station (ISS) under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
Meet the @NASA_Astronauts heading to the @Space_Station on NASA's @SpaceX Crew-9 mission!
— NASA (@NASA) January 31, 2024
Zena Cardman, Nick Hague, and Stephanie Wilson are scheduled to lift off no earlier than this August: https://t.co/x4Fb5jCIeS pic.twitter.com/2GFEuSmr9O
The mission will be launched aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, with NASA astronauts Zena Cardman, Nick Hague, and Stephanie Wilson, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov; they will join Expedition 71 and 72 crew members no earlier than August 2024.
The astronauts will be welcomed by the Crew-8 members (launching in mid-February) and will live and work on the ISS for six months.
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The crew
Zena Cardman will serve as Spacecraft Commander during her first space flight.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology and a master’s in Marine Sciences and her research focused on geobiology and geochemical cycling in subsurface environments.
NASA selected her as an astronaut in 2017 and, after completing the basic training, she has supported the station operations.
Nick Hague has been assigned as the Spacecraft Pilot. He has already spent a total of 203 days in space, and this will be his third launch and his second mission to the International Space Station (his first launch onboard a Soyuz spacecraft failed to reach space).
His first successful mission was launched with the Soyuz MS-12 and served as a flight engineer aboard the space station during Expeditions 59 and 60.
Before his assignment for the Crew-9 mission, he worked on the Boeing Starliner Program.
Nick Hague will also be the first Space Force “Guardian” member to launch to the International Space Station (ISS).
Stephanie Wilson is a veteran of three spaceflights and will serve as Mission Specialist.
She was selected as a NASA astronaut in 1996 and spent 42 days in space aboard three Space Shuttle Discovery missions: STS-121, STS-120, and STS-131.
Wilson has a bachelor’s degree in Engineering Science from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering.
Before her selection as a NASA astronaut in 1996 she worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will serve as Crew-9 Mission Specialist during his first spaceflight.
He studied engineering with qualifications in spacecraft and upper stages from the Moscow Aviation Institute and worked as an engineer for Rocket Space Corporation Energia.
He was selected as a cosmonaut in 2018.
His presence onboard an American spacecraft is part of the Soyuz-Dragon exchange system aimed at maintaining at least one NASA Astronaut and one Roscosmos Cosmonaut onboard each of the crew rotation missions if one of the two spacecraft (Soyuz and Dragon) is unable to fly.
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