NASA and SpaceX postponed the launch of a replacement crew to the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday, delaying a mission that was expected to facilitate the long-awaited return of U.S. astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.
The scheduled launch from Florida, utilizing a SpaceX rocket, was intended to transport a new crew to the ISS, thereby allowing Wilmore and Williams—who have remained in space for nine months following their journey aboard Boeing’s malfunctioning Starliner spacecraft—to return to Earth.
According to NASA, the launch was aborted due to a hydraulic system issue with a ground support clamp arm on the Falcon 9 rocket. Mission teams are currently working to resolve the problem, and the agency now aims for a revised launch attempt no earlier than 7:03 p.m. EDT (2303 GMT) on Friday. The initial Thursday attempt was also postponed due to unfavorable weather conditions, including strong winds and heavy rainfall along the Dragon spacecraft’s flight path.
If the Crew-10 mission successfully launches on Friday, the Crew-9 mission—comprising Wilmore and Williams—will depart from the ISS on Wednesday, March 19. NASA had originally planned for their return later in March but expedited the timeline following calls from former U.S. President Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who advocated for an earlier homecoming for the astronauts.
Wilmore and Williams, both seasoned astronauts and former U.S. Navy test pilots, had initially been scheduled for an eight-day stay aboard the ISS. However, technical complications with Boeing’s Starliner forced the spacecraft to return to Earth without them last year.
The upcoming mission, Crew-10, was initially planned as a routine crew rotation but has become politically charged, with Trump and Musk—without substantiating their claims—attributing the delayed return of Wilmore and Williams to the administration of former President Joe Biden. Their involvement marks an unusual political intervention in NASA’s human spaceflight operations.
NASA ultimately adjusted its plans, replacing a delayed SpaceX capsule with one that could be prepared sooner. Once the new crew reaches the ISS, Wilmore, Williams, and two additional crew members—NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov—will return to Earth in a spacecraft that has been docked at the station since September as part of the Crew-9 mission. NASA has emphasized that Wilmore and Williams must remain aboard the ISS until the arrival of Crew-10 to ensure that a sufficient number of U.S. astronauts remain available for station maintenance and operations.https://www.reuters.com/resizer/v2/LAX3HICUJ5MCRK4TJB77MA73QM.jpg?auth=13512c5a5a9acffd21965760d437c74f68ad28b0adc9f6960854bf8353238b59&width=1080&quality=80ters.com/resizer/v2/2GHX3LHEZJJXJAEQ6ANH2LYXWI.jpg?auth=9a3d2e9946ed7896bb32b9de7a4f4976d03b3fe28fe0915fc6876a431576ca6c&width=1080&quality=80
The two astronauts originally traveled to the ISS in June as part of Starliner’s first crewed test mission. However, due to propulsion system malfunctions, NASA determined that returning them to Earth aboard the Boeing spacecraft posed an unacceptable risk, necessitating their eventual return via a SpaceX capsule instead.
Boeing developed the Starliner spacecraft under a $4.5 billion contract with NASA, intended to serve as a competitor to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, which has been NASA’s primary means of launching crewed missions to the ISS since 2020. Starliner’s inaugural crewed flight was a crucial test required for NASA certification before the spacecraft could be used for regular astronaut transportation. However, its development has been fraught with engineering challenges and cost overruns since 2019, significantly delaying its progress in comparison to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, which was developed under a similar contract valued at approximately $4 billion.
