NASA, ISS Partners Unveil 2017 Astronaut Crew Members

NASA has selected the astronauts to join two missions scheduled for 2017 that will head to the orbiting laboratory in the International Space Station.

NASA said Friday U.S. Navy Capt. Scott Tingle will participate in his first space flight for the Expedition 53 to launch in September 2017 with fellow U.S. astronaut Jack Fischer; Russia’s Ivan Vagner, Alexander Skvortsov, Fyodor Yurchikhin; and the European Space Agency’s Paolo Nespoli.

“There’s so much going on aboard the space station at this point, so many science experiments and technology demonstrations,” said Chris Cassidy, chief of the astronaut office at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

Also selected for a trip to the ISS is retired U.S. Marine Corps Col. Randy Bresnik and he will join Tingle, Vagner and Skvortsov on the station for Expedition 54 in November 2017 along with Russia’s Sergey Ryazansky and Japan’s Norishige Kanai.