NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada will be the commander and pilot of the next Crew-5 mission, which will depart for the International Space Station (ISS) no earlier than autumn 2022 aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon shuttle: the two they were supposed to travel with Boeing's Starliner shuttle, respectively for the manned flight test and the first operational mission, but NASA has decided to change plans while waiting for Boeing to solve the problems of its space taxi, still stationary after launch trial failed in August.
Mann and Cassada will not be the only participants of the Crew-5 mission: the others will be announced later. Meanwhile, the US space agency anticipates that the crew will depart with a Falcon 9 rocket from the historic platform 39A of the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and will remain aboard the ISS for a long time to conduct scientific activities.
"Nicole and Josh have done a tremendous job preparing the training and routing for the astronauts who will fly on Boeing's Starliner spacecraft - they've gained experience that they'll carry on by training to fly with the SpaceX Crew Dragon and to work on the Space Station. international, ”said Kathryn Lueders, associate administrator of NASA's space operations directorate in Washington.
"The NASA team is fortunate to have two commercial partners for human flight and will continue to work with Boeing and SpaceX to prepare NASA astronauts and our international partners to fly to the Space Station aboard US shuttles."