NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are one step closer to returning home after a successful SpaceX crew-swap launch. The mission, Crew-10, was launched on Friday carrying four new astronauts who will replace Wilmore and Williams, who have been stuck on the International Space Station (ISS) for nine months.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:03 p.m. ET, carrying a crew of experienced astronauts. The mission was not dedicated to retrieving Wilmore and Williams but is part of a normal crew rotation plan set by NASA last year.
The Crew-10 astronauts will stay on the station for six months, while Wilmore and Williams are scheduled to depart on Sunday along with two other astronauts. NASA officials say the decision to keep Wilmore and Williams on the ISS until Crew-10’s arrival was not affected by politics, despite claims from SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump.
The mission marks a significant step forward for NASA’s pre-launch check process, which is being accelerated due to pressure from Musk and Trump. The agency had to address some “late-breaking” issues, including investigating a fuel leak on a recent SpaceX launch and deterioration of the Dragon crew capsule’s thrusters.
Despite the challenges, NASA astronauts have been doing scientific research and conducting routine maintenance with the other five astronauts on board. Wilmore and Williams are excited to return home, with Wilmore saying that “planning for unknown, unexpected contingencies” is key to NASA’s human spaceflight program.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/nasa-spacex-try-again-launch-rocket-set-bring-back-stuck-astronauts-2025-03-14