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NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, both former
military test pilots who launched aboard the Starliner
spacecraft in June, will replace Zena Cardman and Stephanie
Wilson on the SpaceX mission.
Last week, NASA officials deemed issues with Starliner's
propulsion system too risky to bring its first crew home as
planned, dealing a major blow to Boeing's struggling space
program.
SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft, initially set to launch four
astronauts to the ISS on Aug. 18, has had its mission, dubbed
Crew-9, rescheduled by NASA to "no earlier than" Sept. 24.
Cardman, initially selected as the mission's commander, and
Wilson, the mission specialist, remain eligible for reassignment
to future missions, NASA said in a release.
Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will
continue as part of the crew and fly back with Wilmore and
Williams in February 2025.
Hague, originally designated as the pilot, will now take over as
commander, while Gorbunov will retain his role as mission
specialist, the space agency said.
NASA's decision to enlist Boeing's chief space rival, SpaceX, to
return the astronauts marks another setback for the embattled
U.S. planemaker and represents one of NASA's most consequential
decisions in years.
Boeing had pinned its space hopes on the success of the
Starliner test mission, hoping it would redeem the troubled
program after years of development challenges.
(Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim
Zahid)
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