The “Commercial Crew Nine” will fly to space in hardware made by Boeing and SpaceX
The Commercial Crew Nine, from left to right: Sunita Williams, Josh Cassada, Eric Boe, Nicole Mann, Christopher Ferguson, Douglas Hurley, Robert Behnken, Michael Hopkins and Victor Glover. These astronauts will be the first launched from US soil since the space shuttle’s retirement in 2011. Credit: NASA
HOUSTON—Call them the Commercial Crew Nine. NASA has unveiled the first astronauts to fly on private spaceships built by SpaceX and Boeing, and, just like the original Mercury Seven, NASA's first astronauts announced in 1959, these 21st century space travelers have "the right stuff."
NASA made the announcement today (Aug. 3) here at the Johnson Space Center, with the agency revealing the eight agency astronauts and one Boeing astronaut before a cheering crowd of lawmakers, dignitaries and kids waving signs and American flags. The astronauts will be the first Americans to launch into orbit from U.S. soil since NASA's space shuttle program shut down in 2011.
"This is a big deal for our country, and we want Americans to know that we are back," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine told the crowd. "We're flying American astronauts on American rockets from American soil." [Meet the SpaceX and Boeing Astronaut Crews]
The Boeing and SpaceX crewed test missions are arguably the most anticipated spaceship test flights this century. There are four flights in all—two each for SpaceX's Crew Dragon and Boeing's CST-100 Starliner vehicle—scheduled to launch to the International Space Station (ISS) throughout 2019 once uncrewed test flights are complete.
Flying the first crewed flight on Boeing's CST-100 Starliner are NASA astronauts Eric Boe, Nicole Aunapu Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson. Ferguson is a former NASA astronaut and space shuttle commander who now works on Boeing's Starliner program. Their mission will launch in mid-2019, if everything goes according to plan.
Veteran NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will fly on SpaceX's first crewed Crew Dragon flight. Their mission is scheduled for April 2019.
"It's absolutely the opportunity of a lifetime," Mann, a Marine Corps lieutenant who joined NASA in 2013, said during the announcement. "As a test pilot, it doesn't get any better than this."
Hurley agreed.
"The first flight is something that you dream about as a test pilot and, you know, you don't think it's ever going to happen to you," he said. "But you know, it looks like it might."
Once the first crewed test flights are complete, two more crews will fly on Crew Dragon and Starliner for long-duration missions to the space station. Launching on Boeing's Starliner will be veteran NASA astronaut Sunita Williams (a former ISS commander) and first-time flyer John Cassada. The first operational SpaceX Crew will be veteran astronaut Mike Hopkins and first-time flyer Victor Glover.
It's been a long trip for these astronauts. Years, in fact.
It was back in September 2014 when NASA first announced that SpaceX and Boeing would fly NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station. At the time, SpaceX's Crew Dragon (known as Dragon V2 at the time) and Boeing's Starliner (just CST-100 back then) won a four-year competition—and contracts worth billions—to fly astronauts to space. [Take a Walk Through SpaceX's Crew Dragon Spaceship]
Then, in July 2015, NASA offered another nugget: Four of its astronauts had been tapped to start training on SpaceX's Crew Dragon and Boeing's Starliner. Those were Behnken, Boe, Hurley and Williams. The astronauts have been training with SpaceX and Boeing, on top of their NASA work, ever since.
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https://www.scientificamerican.com/...nine-astronauts-for-first-commercial-flights/
