NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov, a Roscosmos cosmonaut, will launch to the International Space Station next month without two of their crewmates. (Photo: NASA)
NASA said it would be sending two astronauts on the next SpaceX mission to the International Space Station instead of the planned four so that the two who remain stranded there can return in February.
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The agency made the decision to send the troubled Boeing Starliner that Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore previously flew to the space station in June back to Earth unmanned because the capsule has struggled with thruster troubles and helium leaks.
NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov, a Roscosmos cosmonaut, are expected to launch for the space station at the end of September.
NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson were cut from the mission to make room for Williams and Wilmore on the return flight. The agency said Cardman and Wilson would be eligible for reassignment on future missions.
The U.S. had previously relied on Russia to ferry astronauts to the ISS after the shuttle program was retired in 2011, a decision that came after the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon reentry in 2003, killing all seven astronauts.
SpaceX began taking astronauts to the space station with its rockets in 2020.
