Here’s who will be flying to space on SpaceX Crew-9

Next month SpaceX is planning to launch the next crew of four astronauts to the International Space Station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. In case you forgot, here’s a quick recap of who’s going to be on top of that Falcon 9 rocket come liftoff.

SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission will be its 9th (hence the name) operational crewed flight under NASA, tenth overall for the agency, and 13th overall. The mission will delivery four new crew members to the ISS for a six month stay on the station to conduct more research, maintenance, and some upgrades.

The mission will also relieve the four crew members that flew up on Crew-8 back in March. Crew-9 will consist of three NASA astronauts and one Russian cosmonaut as part of a seat exchange between SpaceX Dragon and Soyuz spacecraft.

Commander – Zena Cardman, NASA

Selected back in 2017 at the age of 29, Cardman previously worked at NASA’s Pavilion Lake Research Project and the Biologic Analog Science Associated with Lava Terrains program (a project researching living on Mars). She is one of many talented astronauts that have zero military experience and are solely research and engineering focused. Cardman also joins a list of young astronauts to take command of a Dragon spacecraft.

Also for those wondering, Cardman will be the fourth “Turtle” from NASA Group 22 in a row to fly to space. This will be Cardman’s first launch to space.

Pilot – Nick Hague, NASA

US Space Force Colonel Nick Hague will become the first Guardian to launch to space since the branch’s creation in 2020. While he won’t be the first Guardian in space, that honor went to Colonel Michael Hopkins who transferred while on station on Crew-1, he is the first to launch.

Before Hague was selected to become a NASA astronaut in 2013, he spent most of his time as a test pilot and teacher for the Air Force, When transferred to the Space Force in 2020, he was the branch’s director of test and evaluation at the Pentagon.

This will be Hague’s third mission to space.

Specialist – Stephanie Wilson, NASA

Also coming from an engineering and research background, Wilson is also the most experienced astronaut of the crew. Wilson was selected by NASA in 1996 after working at Martin Marietta on the Titan IV rocket and on the Galileo spacecraft at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

This will be Wilson’s fourth flight to space – the first three were all on NASA’s Space Shuttle, STS-121, -120, and -131.

Specialist – Alekandr Gorbunov, Roscosmos

Joining the crew from Russia, Gorbunov was an aircraft technician and engineer for the Russian Air Force, serving as a reserve lieutenant before joining the Cosmonaut corp. He also worked as RSC Energia, originally known as OKB-1 or Special Design Bureau 1. Ran by Sergei Korolev during the Space Race, it was the brains behind the rocket family used for Russia’s early and current space program, the R7.

This will be Gorbunov’s first flight to space.

SpaceX awaits FAA approval to return to flight

Before Crew-9 can launch, SpaceX has to get the okay from the FAA to resume flights after its second stage suffered a oxygen leak and failure during a Starlink launch a couple weeks ago.

Currently SpaceX has two Starlink missions slated for launch this week, however no work yet on if the FAA has given the okay for those missions to fly. NASA has been observing the mishap investigation lead by SpaceX and the FAA as it is a major customer of the rocket and needs it operational for Crew-9 and future crewed, cargo, and scientific missions in the future.

Even if the FAA green lights the Falcon 9 for flight, SpaceX will likely want a few Starlink missions under its belt before returning to human spaceflight. Even if these mission profiles don’t use the second burn of the Falcon 9’s second stage, which is where the failure took place, the need for the highest level safety can’t be pushed.