NASA and SpaceX launched Crew-10 to the International Space Station on Friday evening on a mission that also aims to replace Starliner astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore.
At 7:03 p.m. ET, under clear evening skies and sunset, the launch was a success. The success of Friday's mission came after SpaceX ground crews on Thursday fixed an air pocket in the hydraulic system of the clamp arm that supports the Falcon 9 rocket.
This mission is the result of joint federal and private partnership.
“I’m incredibly proud of our NASA and SpaceX ground engineers and joint operations teams who quickly identified and resolved this issue,” said Steve Stich, NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager. “I’m especially proud of the team’s systematic approach throughout the countdown, analyzing data and making informed decisions to ensure the integrity of our mission. Their dedication to both excellence and safety is a true testament to the strength of this integrated team.”
The Crew-10 mission lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Minutes after liftoff, the Falcon 9's first stage landed at Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Dragon then entered low Earth orbit, where it would later maneuver to dock with the International Space Station.
This was the 22nd launch of 2025 from this cosmodrome.
On board the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft were NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nicole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.
This was the second flight for McClain and Onishi, and the first for Ayers and Peskov.
The Crew-10 mission is expected to arrive at the space station for docking at approximately 11:30 p.m. Saturday.
“Crew-10 will rotate with NASA SpaceX Crew-9, which includes agency astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore, as well as Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov. Crew-9, which used a separate Dragon spacecraft, is already docked to the space station and will soon undock from the orbital lab and return to Earth. Crew-9 is scheduled to undock no earlier than Wednesday, March 19,” NASA said.
Ultimately, there will be 11 crew members on the ISS.
Aboard the Crew-9 capsule, Williams and Wilmore will return to Earth “no earlier than Wednesday, March 19,” NASA said. They will be joined by NASA's Nick Hague and Roscosmos' Alexander Gorbunov, who arrived at the ISS on Sept. 29, 2024.
Williams and Wilmore launched to the space station on the troubled Boeing Starliner on June 5, 2024, for what was planned to be a weeklong test flight. The Starliner's problems delayed the mission by nine months.
Starliner has been experiencing helium leaks and engine problems.
In December, NASA announced that they would remain on the space station and return to Earth no later than the end of March 2025.
SpaceX said: “The Dragon spacecraft supporting this mission previously carried NASA's Crew-3, Crew-5, and Crew-7 missions to and from the space station. This will be the second flight of the first stage booster, which previously launched the SES 03b mPOWER-e mission. Following staging, the Falcon 9 first stage will land at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Landing Zone 1.”
Crew-10's launch was originally scheduled for Wednesday but was delayed because of hydraulic problems with the ground support clamp arm, NASA said.
Sourse: www.upi.com
