Who is Aleksandr Vladimirovich Gorbunov, the cosmonaut who will rescue Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore

Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been stuck in space since early June 2024, will be rescued by Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Vladimirovich Gorbunov in February 2025. The cosmonaut will embark on his first spaceflight in September 2024 as part of SpaceX’s Crew-9. NASA and SpaceX teams are all set to launch on September 28, 2024, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The cosmonaut will be accompanied by NASA astronaut Nick Hague, and they will launch aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. During the course of their five-month mission, they are expected to conduct research and perform maintenance activities, according to the NASA website. However, a significant focus of the mission is bringing back the stranded astronauts, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore.

Who is Aleksandr Vladimirovich Gorbunov?
The cosmonaut, who hails from Zheleznogorsk, Russia, was born on May 24, 1990. As per the NASA website, he graduated from the Aviation Institute in 2014 with a specialization in spacecraft and upper stages. His education was mainly concerned with aircraft operations and repairs, helicopters, and aircraft engines.

Before joining Roscosmos, Aleksandr served as a reserve lieutenant in the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Armed Forces. He also worked as an engineer at Energia, a Russian spacecraft manufacturer, and supported cargo spacecraft launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. In 2018, Gorbunov passed rigorous medical and training programs to be selected for the Roscosmos Cosmonaut Corps. Survival exercises, diving simulations, and flight simulations were some of the exercises that were part of the training at Roscosmos.

For this mission, Gorbunov will serve as the flight engineer on the ISS during Expedition 72, aboard the Dragon capsule named Freedom. His experiments include scientific research for further low-orbit exploration missions by humans, studying the impact of flame behavior on Earth, investigating the effects of long-duration space flights on human cells and platelets, and testing a vitamin that can reduce the risk of Spaceflight-Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome, according to the NASA website.