NASA will hold a pair of press conferences Friday, July 26, from the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to highlight upcoming crew rotation missions to the International Space Station.
NASA will host a mission press conference at 12 p.m. EDT and provide coverage on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube and the agency The press conference will cover NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission to the microgravity laboratory and Expeditions 71 and 72.
NASA will also host a crew press conference at 2 p.m. and provide coverage on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube and the agency’s website, followed by one-on-one astronaut interviews at 3 p.m. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms, including social media.
The Crew-9 mission, scheduled to launch in mid-August, will carry NASA astronauts Zena Cardman, Nick Hague, Stephanie Wilson and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexsandr Gorbunov to the orbiting laboratory. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the crew aboard a Dragon spacecraft from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on the company’s ninth crew rotation mission for NASA.
These events will be the last opportunity for media to speak with the Crew-9 astronauts before they depart for NASA Kennedy Space Center for launch. U.S.-based media interested in attending in person should contact the NASA Johnson Press Room no later than 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 25, at 281-483-5111 or jsccommu@mail.nasa.gov. U.S. and international media interested in participating by phone should contact NASA Johnson by 9:45 a.m. on the day of the event.
U.S. or international media seeking remote interviews should submit their requests to NASA’s Johnson Press Room by 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 25. A copy of NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online.
Participants in the briefing are as follows (all times are Eastern and subject to change based on real-time operations):
12:00 p.m.: Presentation of the News mission. Conference
- Steve Stich, NASA Johnson Commercial Crew Program Manager
- Dana Weigel, International Space Station Program Manager, NASA Johnson
- Sarah Walker, director of Dragon mission management at SpaceX
- Sergei Krikalev, Executive Director of Human Spaceflight Programs, Roscosmos
2:00 p.m.: Crew press conference
- Zena Cardman, Spacecraft Commander, NASA
- Nick Hague, pilot, NASA
- Stephanie Wilson, Mission Specialist, NASA
- Alexsandr Gorbunov, mission specialist, Roscosmos
3:00 p.m.: Opportunities for individual interviews with the crew
- Crew Members – 9 members available for a limited number of interviews
The Crew-9 mission will be the first spaceflight for Cardman, who was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2017. A native of Williamsburg, Virginia, she holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s degree in marine science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. At the time of her selection, she was a doctoral candidate in geosciences. Cardman’s research focuses on geobiology and geochemical cycling in subsurface environments, from caves to deep-sea sediments. Since completing her initial training, Cardman has contributed to real-time station operations and the development of lunar surface exploration. Follow @zenanaut on X and @zenanaut on Instagram.
With 203 days in space, this will be Hague’s third launch and second mission to the orbiting laboratory. On his first launch in 2018, Hague and his crewmate, Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin, experienced a rocket booster failure, leading to an in-flight abort and a safe landing of their Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft. Five months later, Hague blasted off aboard Soyuz MS-12 and served as a flight engineer aboard the space station during Expeditions 59 and 60. Hague conducted three spacewalks to upgrade the space station’s power systems and install a docking adapter for commercial spacecraft. As an active-duty colonel in the U.S. Space Force, Hague completed a development rotation at the Department of Defense in Washington, D.C., where he served as the USSF Test and Evaluation Director from 2020 to 2022. In August 2022, Hague returned to his duties at NASA, working on the Boeing Starliner program until this flight assignment. Follow @astrohag on X and @astrohauge on Instagram.
After completing three spaceflights aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery, Wilson spent 42 days in space. During her first mission, STS-121, in July 2006, she and her crewmates spent 13 days in orbit. Wilson served as the robotic arm operator for spacecraft inspections, installation of the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, and spacewalk support. In October 2007, Wilson and her STS-120 crewmates delivered the Harmony module to the station and relocated a solar array. In April 2010, Wilson and her STS-131 crewmates completed another resupply mission to the orbital complex, delivering a new ammonia tank for the station’s cooling system, new sleeping quarters, a porthole observation facility, and a freezer for experiments. For nearly 30 years at NASA, Wilson served as chief of the NASA Astronaut Office Integration Branch, focusing on International Space Station systems and payload operations. She also served a nine-month secondment as acting chief of NASA’s Program and Project Integration Office at the agency’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. @astro_stephanie on X.
This will be Gorbunov’s first trip to space and aboard the station. Born in Zheleznogorsk, Kursk Region, Russia, he studied engineering with qualifications in spacecraft and upper stages at the Moscow Aviation Institute. Gorbunov graduated from the military department with a specialty in the operation and repair of aircraft, helicopters and aircraft engines. Before being selected as a cosmonaut in 2018, he worked as an engineer for Rocket Space Corporation Energia and supported cargo spacecraft launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
To learn more about how NASA is innovating for the benefit of humanity through the NASA Commercial Crew Program, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew
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Joshua Finch / Jimi Russell
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / james.j.russell@nasa.gov
Lea Cheshier / Sandra Jones
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
leah.d.cheshier@nasa.gov / sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov