Sunita Williams' return delayed again as NASA postpones SpaceX Crew-10 launch | What we know so far

The set in motion of the NASA-SpaceX Crew-10 missionary station, meant to pave the way of life for the take back of 2 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, of 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 Sunita Williams, 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.” Nail said "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.

NASA said that the next available launch opportunity is no earlier than 7:26 pm EDT, March 13, from launch complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, pending review.

"Docking is targeted at 11:30 pm EDT on Friday, March 14. The U.S. Space Force 45th Weather Squadron predicts greater-than-95% favorable forecast for conditions around the launch site," NASA said.

NASA earlier mentioned backup opportunities for a launch on March 13 at 7:35 pm and March 14 at 7:04 pm.

Despite these launch windows, any attempts on those days will hinge on how fast the company can pinpoint and fix the hydraulic issues.

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.

NASA said, "With a March 13 Crew-10 launch, the Crew-9 mission with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Sunita Williams, and Butch Wilmore, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, would depart the space station no earlier than 9:05 a.m. Monday, March 17, pending weather at the splashdown locations off the coast of Florida."

Boeing built Starliner under a $4.5 billion contract with NASA to compete with SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, which has been the U.S. Space agency's only vehicle for sending ISS crew members to orbit from American soil since 2020, Reuters reported. 

Starliner's development has been plagued with engineering issues and cost overruns since 2019, putting it far behind SpaceX's Crew Dragon, per the Reuters report.

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