At this point in time, we feel like being very cautious as to not jinx it, but it does seem that NASA and SpaceX will be finally able to launch the agency’s Crew-10 mission tonight (14), 7:03 p.m. ET, to the International Space Station.
Inspections of the ground solved the support hydraulics system that was holding it up.
The weather is expected to be excellent on the Space Coast heading into the launch opportunity.
NASA’s blog:
“NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov will fly to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket.”
Targeting Friday, March 14 for a Falcon 9 launch of the Transporter-13 mission from Space Launch Complex 4E in California → https://t.co/afM5y8nBPg pic.twitter.com/9CFifLfp0G
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 13, 2025
In itself, Crew-10 is quite the milestone, as the agency’s 10th crew rotation mission of SpaceX’s human space transportation system.
But it’s impossible not to think and mention that this is the crew that will relieve the long-stranded Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, the crew from Boeing’s troublesome Starliner maiden crewed voyage.
ABC News reported:
“The launch Wednesday was abruptly postponed less than 45 minutes before liftoff due to a problem with a ground support clamp arm on the Falcon 9 rocket.
[…] Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore and Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams have been in space since June 2024 after they performed the first crewed test flight of Boeing’s Starliner. When they launched, they were only supposed to be on the ISS for about a week.”
However, NASA and Boeing officials decided to send the uncrewed Starliner back to Earth in September after several issues and keep Wilmore and Williams onboard until early 2025 when Crew-10 was ready to launch on the Dragon spacecraft. Wilmore and Williams are set to return in the Crew-9 capsule.”
In September, Wilmore said he and Williams did not feel let down by anything during the mission.
“’Let down? Absolutely not’, Wilmore said. ‘It’s never entered my mind. […] NASA does a great job of making a lot of things look easy. That’s just the way it goes. Sometimes because we are pushing the edges of the envelope in everything that we do’.”
Lately, it surfaced that the two astronauts were left in space longer than necessary because of political machinations by the Joe Biden administration.
Read more:
Space X’s Dragon Endurance Getting Ready for March 12 Launch to ISS – Crew 10 To Relieve Stranded Astronauts Williams and Wilmore, Allowing Them To Return to Earth
Read the full article here