Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore's Return To Earth Delayed; NASA, SpaceX Reveal New Date For Crew-10 Launch
Before postponing the mission, SpaceX had also shared videos and photos of the four new crew members, all prepared for launch, highlighting how close the launch was to happening.
SpaceX, tasked with bringing back astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, on Thuesday announced that the mission was delayed less than hour before the launch. The Elon Musk-led company had to postpone the launch of the Falcon 9 rocket from Florida due to some technical difficulties.
"Standing down from tonight's launch opportunity of NASA's Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station (ISS)," SpaceX said in a statement on Thursday.
NASA and SpaceX postponed the scheduled launch of the Crew-10 mission to the ISS due to a hydraulic issue with the Falcon 9's ground support clamp arm at Kennedy Space Centre.
"NASA and SpaceX are standing down on the March 12 launch attempt," the US space agency said in a post on X, noting they will try again on March 14.
The new crew of four astronauts would have replaced Williams and Wilmore. The duo have been stuck on the ISS for more than nine months. They flew to the ISS last June for a week-long mission. However, they couldn’t return as per the expected timeline due to a technical issue with their spacecraft, Boeing Starliner.
Subsequently, they remained stationed at the ISS, carrying out studies and missions. When Donald Trump assumed office as the US President in January, he assured that Musk’s company would bring Williams and Wilmore back. He also blamed former US President Joe Biden for deliberately stalling the astronauts’ return, a claim backed by Musk.
Last week, Trump reiterated his charges against Biden, while sending a message to the astronauts that they were coming to rescue them. "We love you and we are coming up to get you…and you shouldn't have been up there so long," Trump said, while accusing Biden of "incompetence."
Notably, there has been a growing concern about the health of Williams, 59, and Wilmore, 62, due to their longer-than-expected stay on the ISS. Earlier, NASA had confirmed that they would return back later in March aboard SpaceX’s Dragon crew capsule. However, the US space agency did not give an exact date, citing weather-related challenges.
Before postponing the mission, SpaceX had also shared videos and photos of the four new crew members, all prepared for launch, highlighting how close the launch was to happening.
Now, the agency has said that the launch attempt would be re-initiated on Mar. 14.
