Initially, Acaba stuck with Cardman. She was the original commander of the mission, after all. But this prompted considerable dissent within the Astronaut Office, sources said. While Cardman is respected, and Dragon designed to be fully autonomous, it was asking a lot of her to be the sole NASA representative on board the vehicle. (Russian astronauts, generally, are not trained in depth on piloting US vehicles.) A non-trivial percentage of professional astronauts succumb to space sickness during the initial hours of their spaceflights.
Some members of the astronaut office argued that Hague was the safer choice. An Air Force test pilot, Hague survived a harrowing Soyuz spacecraft abort in 2018, and subsequently flew to space for more than six months in 2019. Hague, these astronauts said, was the safer choice for NASA if the agency truly sought to maximize chances of mission success.
Eventually these dissenters, with some support from the upper echelons of NASA management, prevailed, and Acaba swapped Hague for Cardman. A decision was reached before a Flight Readiness Review meeting on August 24, but it was not publicly announced until this Friday.
NASA’s official comment
“While we’ve changed crew before for a variety of reasons, downsizing crew for this flight was another tough decision to adjust to given that the crew has trained as a crew of four,” Acaba said in a news release issued Friday. “I have the utmost confidence in all our crew, who have been excellent throughout training for the mission. Zena and Stephanie will continue to assist their crewmates ahead of launch, and they exemplify what it means to be a professional astronaut.”
There was also a classy quote in the news release from Cardman, who revealed Friday that her father, Larry Cardman, passed away three weeks ago. “I am deeply proud of our entire crew,” she said. “And I am confident Nick and Alex will step into their roles with excellence. All four of us remain dedicated to the success of this mission, and Stephanie and I look forward to flying when the time is right.”
Here’s hoping her time comes very, very soon.
