Russian cosmonaut joins US team of astronauts on the ninth rotation of the Commercial Crew programme
Washington, USA (Svidomi) — Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov has joined the team of American astronauts on the ninth Commercial Crew rotation to the International Space Station.
The ninth rotational mission to the International Space Station will begin this autumn. It will last six months.
In addition to the Russian, the team includes commander Zena Cardman, pilot Nick Hague, and mission specialist Stephanie Wilson.
NASA said it will be Gorbunov's first trip to space and the station. He was born in Zheleznogorsk, Kursk region, Russia. Gorbunov studied engineering with qualifications in spacecraft and upper stages at the Moscow Aviation Institute.
Gorbunov also graduated from the military department with a degree in operating and repairing aeroplanes, helicopters and aircraft engines. Before becoming an astronaut in 2018, he worked as an engineer at the Rocket Space Corporation Energia and supported the launch of cargo spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
In 2022, Svidomi explained why NASA still cooperates with Russia. One of the reasons is the fact that after the collapse of the USSR, Russia joined the construction of the ISS together with the United States, Canada, Japan and the European Space Agency. In 1998, NASA and Roscosmos signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation on the ISS.
In March 2022, NASA's ISS program manager, Joel Montalbano, said that countries would cooperate despite the war because the ISS was a flagship international cooperation model designed to be "interdependent". He added that NASA was "aware of the situation", but their priority was the safety of astronauts.
