New York: NASA and SpaceX successfully launched a crewed mission to the International Space Station (ISS), aimed at bringing back NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been stranded in space since June last year due to technical issues with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft.
The Dragon spacecraft lifted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:03 p.m. ET on Friday (4:33 a.m. IST on Saturday). NASA shared the launch update on social media, posting, “Have a great time in space, y’all! #Crew10 lifted off from NASA Kennedy at 7:03 pm ET (2303 UTC) on Friday, March 14.”
The Crew-10 mission is carrying NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov to the ISS. The spacecraft is expected to reach the station after a 28.5-hour journey, where it will autonomously dock with the orbital laboratory.
Following the arrival of Crew-10, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 team—consisting of Nick Hague, Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov—will return to Earth.
The launch had been delayed from March 13 after a hydraulic system issue was detected with a ground support clamp arm on the rocket. However, SpaceX swiftly resolved the problem, allowing for a successful launch.
Williams and Wilmore were originally scheduled to return to Earth by the end of March, but the mission was expedited after US President Donald Trump urged SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to bring them back sooner.
With the mission now underway, NASA expects the long-awaited return of the two stranded astronauts, marking another milestone in space exploration and rescue efforts.
