SpaceX's Crew-9 astronaut flight for NASA launches this week. Here's how it turned into a rescue mission

Two men in blue flight suits pose for a portrait with the arms crossed in front of a background of earth as seen from space.

This week, NASA is sending up a rescue mission to the International Space Station.

On Thursday (Sept. 26), NASA astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov of Russia's space agency Roscosmos will launch to the International space Station (ISS) on SpaceX's Crew-9 mission. Two other NASA astronauts, Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson, both mission specialists, were supposed to be aboard as well.