The International Space Station (ISS) has spent the last three months with a larger crew complement than usual following the Starliner Crew Flight Test (CFT) docking with the ISS on June 6. However, the Station’s crew complement is about to return to its normal number of astronauts with the imminent departure of Crew-8 and Crew Dragon Endeavour after the handover with the CFT and two Crew-9 astronauts.
August began with Starliner Calypso still docked to ISS and ended with a large change in plans due to returning Calypso without the CFT crew. Crew-9 was changed from the usual four astronauts to just two, with the CFT crew, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, forming the other half of the crew that Crew-9 commander Nick Hague and Roscosmos’ Aleksandr Gorbunov will spend six months with. Former Crew-9 commander Zena Cardman and mission specialist Stephanie Wilson are now available for future assignments.