Agency Shifts Crew-10 Launch Date to Return Wilson and Wilmore

NASA has set its sights on a March 12 launch date for Crew-10, which will deliver three astronauts and a cosmonaut to the ISS aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endurance. Their arrival will allow Crew-9 astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to make their long-awaited return home.

Williams and Wilmore originally arrived at the ISS in June 2024 aboard a Boeing Starliner during what was supposed to be a simple 10-day crewed flight test. However, thanks to thruster malfunctions and a growing list of technical concerns, Starliner was ultimately flown back to Earth without them. NASA, always the optimist, described their extended stay as a “mission plan shift.”

Fast forward nearly ten months and Williams and Willmore are finally preparing for their return to Earth. Crew-9 launched on September 28, 2024, strategically leaving two open seats for Williams and Wilmore on the return trip. This plan, however, depended on Crew-10 arriving first… Something that has proven easier said than done.

Crew-10 was originally expected to launch in February, but in December, NASA delayed it to “no earlier than late March” so that SpaceX could finish building a new Crew Dragon. In the meantime, the internet did what it does best and branded Williams and Wilmore as the “stranded astronauts.”

Now, Crew-10 is set to launch on March 12 from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission will carry NASA astronauts Anne McClain as commander and Nichole Ayers as pilot. Under the Commercial Crew Program, McClain and Ayers will be accompanied by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov as mission specialists. This will be Ayers and Peskov’s maiden space flight. Once docked, Crew-9 can finally depart, taking Williams and Wilmore back to Earth and marking the end of an unexpectedly extended “test flight.”

NASA has already opened media accreditation for the Crew-10 launch, allowing US and international organizations to get a special insight into the mission.

FMI: www.nasa.gov