【Esther Studer】

With Boeing's troubled spaceship deemed too risky to bring its crew home from space,Esther Studer NASA has bumped the two female astronauts set for the next International Space Station rotation to free up seats. 

Zena Cardman, who would have been the SpaceX Crew-9 commander, and Stephanie Wilson were cut from the upcoming crew. NASA astronaut Nick Hague, who would have served as pilot, will shift into the commander role, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will accompany him as mission specialist. 

The decision to reduce the SpaceX Dragon crew from four astronauts to two leaves a pair of seats empty for Boeing Starliner's crew, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, on the return trip. They will ride home with Hague and Gorbunov at the end of the scheduled rotation in February 2025. 

---

You May Also Like

---

---

SEE ALSO: The long, thorny history of Boeing's Starliner spaceship Only NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will fly in the SpaceX Crew-9 capsule to the International Space Station this September. Credit: SpaceX

This summer, veteran astronauts Wilmore and Williams have remained in limbo 250 miles above Earth, as NASA leadership and Boeing mission managers discussed whether Starliner was safe to bring them home. During the test flight in June, the crew discovered perplexing propulsion issues on Starliner. 

What should have been an eight-day stint in space for them will now stretch for eight months. 

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

NASA chief astronaut Joe Acaba said choosing who would stay and who would go on the SpaceX Dragon flight was a tough decision. He had to balance selecting one NASA astronaut with experience to command the flight with preserving a spot for a Roscosmos cosmonaut in order to maintain an integrated crew.

 "Zena and Stephanie will continue to assist their crewmates ahead of launch," Acaba said in a statement. "They exemplify what it means to be a professional astronaut."

The original SpaceX Crew-9, from left: NASA astronaut Stephanie Wilson, Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, and NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Zena Cardman. Credit: NASA / Bill Stafford / Robert Markowitz

Getting Starliner through the testing phase has been a relentless battle for Boeing, though its representatives have not always been forthcomingon why the program has suffered so many setbacks. A string of issues has spanned a decade. 

After the Space Shuttle retired in 2011, NASA hitched all of its rides on Russian rockets to the space station, costing the United States tens of millions of dollars per ride. Some considered it a national embarrassment. 

---

Related Stories

---

• Why time is running short to decide Starliner astronauts' ride home
• Here are the 2024 space moments you won't want to miss
• Here's the real deal with Boeing's Starliner right now
• NASA astronauts blast off in tense launch on Boeing spacecraft
• The long, thorny history of Boeing's Starliner spaceship

NASA hired Boeing and SpaceX to build commercial spaceships to carry astronauts to and from the station in 2014. While SpaceX's capsule went into service four years ago, Boeing's Starliner has yet to obtain certification for regular flight operations. NASA never intended to have all its eggs in Elon Musk's basket and says Starliner is still crucial to have as a backup. 

Starliner attached to the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

So long as the weather conditions are good, Starliner will undockfrom the space station without any passengers on Sept. 6 and will attempt a robotic landing about six hours later, just before midnight on Sept. 7, in a New Mexico desert. The SpaceX Crew-9 capsule bringing up Hague and Gorbunov is expected to launch on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, no earlier than Sept. 24. 

NASA said Cardman and Wilson will be eligible for reassignment to future expeditions.

• Entertainment
• Games
• Tech
• Deals
• Social Good
• Life
• Science
• Shopping

• NYT Strands hints, answers for May 2
• The strange saga of the ex
• Hillary Clinton tears Trump apart with 9 tweets
• Luke Cage is Marvel's most vital hero yet
• Music is the secret weapon of Mario Speedrunners
• Will Google really kill its Nexus phones and replace them with Pixel?
• Angry customer casually smashes up iPhones in a French Apple Store
• This NBA player's giant hands make a regulation basketball look puny
• 'The Last of Us' Season 2, episode 5: The spores are here!
• Why IBM Watson is interested in Twitter data and supporting developers

• FCC filing shows Google
• Elon Musk blames Tesla Model 3 'production hell' on over
• What is Finder Spyder: An investigation.
• Hurricanes will never be named Harvey, Irma, or Maria again
• Cardi B has already won Coachella, according to Google
• Ditch the cable forever with these smashing Amazon deals on wireless headphones
• Tim Draper makes a splash with bitcoin
• Adam Rippon, Tonya Harding join 'Dancing With the Stars: Athletes'
• Hackers exploit smart thermometer to steal casino information
• Another 'Game of Thrones' death: George R.R. Martin's LiveJournal

• Best robot vacuum deal: Save $140 on roborock Q7 Max Robot Vacuum
• OpenAI down: 'Too many concurrent requests' ChatGPT error message explained
• The iPhone is your karaoke mic in tvOS 26's Apple Music Sing
• Weight loss app counts calories with your food pics
• Trump's new tariff plan spares some smartphones, laptops
• Everything Samsung could pack into the Galaxy S8
• Congratulations to Taylor Swift, whose friend, Blake Lively, had a baby
• Knicks' Joakim Noah skips cadet dinner over anti
• Meta continues its submission to Trump with new advisor on its board
• Young former politician labelled a 'wanker' after visiting ISIS frontline

• NYT Connections Sports Edition hints and answers for May 19: Tips to solve Connections #238
• Argentina vs. Colombia 2025 livestream: Watch World Cup Qualifiers for free
• Uber to make it easier for drivers to own a car in India
• Vegans embrace the idea of changing the name of vegan cheese to 'Gary'
• Google Pixel Buds Pro 2: $40 off at Amazon
• Angry customer casually smashes up iPhones in a French Apple Store
• Bye, bye, Rosetta: The best moments from the spacecraft's historic mission
• The strange saga of the ex
• NYT Connections hints and answers for April 26: Tips to solve 'Connections' #685.
• Apple's push into healthcare now includes Apple Watch data