NASA shuffles Crew-9 astronauts that will bring Starliner crew home
SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission will launch to the International Space Station with only NASA’s Nick Hague and Roscosmos’ Aleksandr Gorbunov on board, according to an update on Friday. Crew-9 will launch “no earlier” than September 24th, with plans to bring delayed Starliner astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams back to Earth next February.
Wilmore and Williams arrived at the ISS in June and were only supposed to stay for about a week while conducting tests. However, helium leaks and valve issues on Boeing’s Starliner delayed their return, and NASA gave up on sending them back on the spacecraft altogether. The agency decided to bring Wilmore and Williams home on SpaceX’s Dragon capsule with the Crew-9 mission instead.
NASA says the other...