NASA and SpaceX have officially announced the Crew-10 mission launch to bring back veteran astronaut Sunita Williams and her fellow crew member Butch Wilmore. The mission is scheduled to lift off on Friday at 7:03 PM EDT (Saturday, 4:30 AM IST), according to a report by Reuters.
Crew-10 Mission Rescheduled After Technical Glitch
The latest announcement comes just 24 hours after the initial launch was scrubbed at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida due to a technical issue with a ground support clamp arm on the Falcon 9 rocket. Following a detailed review, NASA confirmed that the next available launch window would be no earlier than Saturday.
Williams and Wilmore, who initially reached the International Space Station (ISS) for an eight-day mission, have been stranded for nine months due to Boeing’s faulty Starliner spacecraft. Their return was delayed multiple times, extending their stay in space far beyond the original plan.
If the Mission Succeeds, Return Scheduled After March 20
If the Crew-10 launch goes as planned, the astronauts are expected to depart the ISS after March 20, marking the end of their unexpected long-duration stay aboard the station.
The Crew-10 mission will also transport a fresh team of astronauts to the ISS, including:
- Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers (NASA)
- Takuya Onishi (JAXA – Japan’s Space Agency)
- Kirill Peskov (Roscosmos – Russia’s Space Agency)
NASA Prioritizes Astronauts’ Safety Despite Delays
Despite multiple postponements, NASA has reiterated its commitment to astronaut safety, ensuring that the space station remains well-stocked with essential supplies for the crew’s extended mission.
The mission timeline was moved up by two weeks after former US President Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk urged NASA to prioritize the return of Wilmore and Williams ahead of schedule.
Initially, the Starliner spacecraft was supposed to bring the astronauts back, but it returned to Earth without them last year due to technical malfunctions, leaving them stranded in space.
