On October 6, NASA announced it changed a pair of astronauts from a planned mission to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard Boeing Starliner to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. The change is due to Boeing facing delays with its Starliner spacecraft development. You can read more about Starliner's issues in the previous TESMANIAN article: NASA Plans To Launch More Astronauts Aboard SpaceX Crew Dragon Due To Boeing Starliner Development Delays.
The agency officially reassigned rookie astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada to SpaceX’s Crew-5 mission to the Space Station as part of the Commercial Crew Program. The program awarded similar contracts to SpaceX and Boeing for each to conduct six rotational missions (total of 12) to the orbiting laboratory but Boeing is behind on Starliner’s development, it is pending a vital uncrewed demonstration spaceflight to ISS to certify that Starliner is ready to safely transport humans. Mann and Cassada initially trained for two seperate missions aboard Starliner: Boeing's Crew Flight Test and the Starliner-1 mission. The agency opted to reassign their missions to advance their Commercial Crew Program schedule and give Boeing time to complete Starliner’s development.
SpaceX already has four crewed missions under its belt, two of those are operational missions for NASA. Crew-2 is working at ISS and is scheduled to return early-to-mid November. SpaceX is ready to launch Crew-3 on October 30 aboard a previously-flown Crew Dragon spacecraft. The agency said that SpaceX will also proceed to launch Crew-4 and Crew-5 – placing the company far ahead of Boeing. “Mann and Cassada will serve as spacecraft commander and pilot, respectively, for the Crew-5 mission. Additional crew members will be announced later,” NASA announced in a press release. Crew-5 is scheduled to launch until Autumn 2022, giving the astronaut duo enough time to familiarize themselves with Crew Dragon. They will launch atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Their spaceflight will be a long-duration mission to the ISS Lab where they will work on science research for up to six months. It will be their first flight to space.
“It has been the opportunity of a lifetime to train on a brand-new spacecraft, the Boeing Starliner, and it has been fantastic to work with the Boeing team,” Mann stated. “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to train on another new spacecraft – the SpaceX Crew Dragon – and appreciate the teams at NASA who have made that possible. I am ready to fly and serve on the International Space Station,” she said.
“Nicole and Josh have done a tremendous job pioneering the training and path forward for astronauts to fly on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. They have gained experience that they will take forward as they train to fly in SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft and serve aboard the International Space Station,” NASA’s Associate Administrator of the Space Operations Mission Directorate Kathryn Lueders stated on Wednesday. “The NASA team is fortunate to have two commercial crew partners and will continue to work with Boeing and SpaceX to prepare NASA astronauts and our international partners to fly to and from the International Space Station on U.S. spacecraft,” she added.
“It has been great to spend the last few years training with the joint Boeing and NASA team, and I am really looking forward to now have a chance to also train with SpaceX on a new spacecraft. Cross training on both programs is a unique opportunity to learn, but also to provide valuable insight to future astronauts flying these spacecraft,” Cassada said. “And, of course, Nicole and I are incredibly excited to get to work aboard the International Space Station, executing current operations and also contributing to future exploration beyond low-earth orbit.”
Featured Images Source: NASA & SpaceX
About the Author
Evelyn Arevalo
Evelyn J. Arevalo joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover news as a Space Journalist and SpaceX Starbase Texas Correspondent. Evelyn is specialized in rocketry and space exploration. The main topics she covers are SpaceX and NASA.
