NASA Reduces Crew-9 Members To Pick Up Astronauts Trapped On The Space Station

Two Crew-9 members (photo: Doc. NASA)

JAKARTA Two NASA astronauts on the Crew-9 mission canceled going to the International Space Station (ISS) due to problems on the Starliner plane. The two astronauts are Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson.

The Crew-9 mission will continue with the remaining two astronauts, namely Astronaut Nick Hague and the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) Cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. During the mission, Hague will become a Commander and Gorbunov will be a mission specialist.

This change in the number of crews was made to pick up two NASA astronauts trapped on the ISS due to problems with the spacecraft they were traveling in. During Starliner's Air Test, the plane developed by Boeing encountered serious problems.

On June 5, Starliner took NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the ISS. Starliner's Air Test mission should have ended in eight days, but the aircraft suffered helium leaks and booster rockets so it needed to be repaired.

After carrying out a fairly long repair process and taking several months, NASA decided to repatriate Starliner first and leave two of its crew at the station. This is done so that the crew avoids dangerous risks.

Hague and Gorbunov will fly on September 24 aboard a Dragon plane in two vacant seats. Upon arrival at the space station, Crew-9 members will be part of Expedition 72 alongside Wilmore, Williams, and other astronauts.

All of these astronauts will conduct scientific research such as geobiology, geochemicals, and other research. After completing all their duties, Hague, Gorbunov, Wilmore, and Williams will be repatriated to Earth.