SpaceX’s Crew-10 mission: Another step towards ISS
SpaceX’s Crew-10 mission launched successfully from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on March 14 at 7:03 pm. The mission includes NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nicole Ayers, Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Kirill Peskov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos. The spacecraft is set to connect with the International Space Station (ISS) on March 15 at 11:30 pm. With this, these four astronauts will become part of the team working on the ISS.
Arrival of new crew on ISS and return of old crew
Watch Falcon 9 launch Dragon and Crew-10 to the @Space_Station → https://t.co/VPdhVwQFNJ https://t.co/ZeAFaKzKD0
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 14, 2025
The arrival of the new crew will allow already serving NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to return to Earth. Both of them had a tenure on the ISS originally for a week, but this period extended to nine months.
Problems in Starliner’s first trip
Williams and Wilmore went to the ISS with the Boeing Starliner, with the aim of confirming its readiness to safely carry astronauts into orbit. However, on the way, the Starliner began leaking helium, causing some of its thrusters to stop working. After attempts to solve this problem, NASA decided to send the Starliner back to Earth without any astronauts.
Plans to return with SpaceX Crew-9
Before the Boeing Starliner was repaired and re-flighted, NASA decided that Williams and Wilmore would now return with the members of SpaceX Crew-9. Therefore, only two astronauts were sent in the Crew-10 mission so that there would be extra seats in the ISS for the return trip. However, the launch of Crew-10, planned for February, was delayed over time so that SpaceX could have enough time to prepare the new Dragon spacecraft.
Williams and Wilmore are now expected to return to Earth on March 19 along with Crew-9’s Nick Hague and Alexander Gorbunov.
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