Alexander Gorbunov, MAI graduate, begins his preparation for a flight to the ISS as part of Crew-9

Alexander Gorbunov, a Russian cosmonaut and graduate of Moscow Aviation Institute, joined the crew, which is scheduled to go to the International Space Station this year as part of SpaceX's Crew-9 mission. According to NASA, it is planned to launch the Crew Dragon manned spacecraft to deliver the team into orbit in August.

Three NASA astronauts are also the crew-members: Commander Zena Cardman, pilot Nick Hague and mission specialist Stephanie Wilson.

Alexander Gorbunov was born in Zheleznogorsk, Kursk region, and received education at MAI in the specialty "Spacecraft and upper stages". The flight will become the first one for him.

Now there are 29 cosmonauts in MAI. This is biggest amount and the record among civil universities in Russia. In 2023, five MAI residents visited the ISS during same period of time: graduate students Anna Kikina, Andrey Fedyaev and Dmitry Petelin have already completed the mission, and graduate student Konstantin Borisov and graduate student Nikolay Chub continue to work at the station at the present time.