Sunita Williams' return further delayed as NASA postpones SpaceX Crew-10 launch — What we know so far
Posted on: Mar 13, 2025 05:18 IST | Posted by: Livemint
The set in motion of the NASA-SpaceX Crew-10 missionary post, meant to pave the path for the bring back of partner off of Starliner astronauts on the International Space Station, was postponed Wednesday, the US space agency said. With the delay in the Crew-10 launch, the return of Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will also be now postponed.
Crew-10 is crucial as it is meant to replace Crew-9, which ‘stranded’ astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are part of. NASA said earlier that Crew-9 can return from the International Space Station (ISS) only after Crew-10 launches to space.
Therefore, the successful launch of Crew-10 would have set in motion the long-awaited homecoming of US astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have been stuck in space for nine months after a trip on Boeing's faulty Starliner.
NASA launch commentator Derrol Nail said, “There was an issue with the hydraulic system on the ground side.” He said that "everything was fine with the rocket and the spacecraft itself."
Concerns over a critical hydraulic system arose less than four hours before the Falcon rocket's planned evening liftoff from NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
SpaceX and NASA did not immediately announce a new launch date, but noted the next try could be as early as Thursday night.
The space agency recently said that the next available launch opportunity is no earlier than 7:26 p.m. EDT, March 13, from launch complex 39A at Nasa Kennedy pending review of the issue.
NASA had earlier mentioned backup opportunities for a launch on March 13 at 7:35 pm and March 14 at 7:04 pm.
NASA official said earlier that there has to be a two full days of handover period between Crew 10 and Crew 9 after Crew-10 reaches the ISS after over 10-hour journey.
So, for the Crew 10 launch on March 12, the return of the astronauts was scheduled on March 16. In cases of launch on March 13 or 14, the return of Crew-9 will shift to March 17 or March 18.
Crew-9 is now expected to depart the space station no earlier than 9:05 am (EST) Monday, March 17.
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