Houston: NASA has announced that Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are expected to depart the International Space Station no earlier than March 19. The American space agency indicated that the launch window for the SpaceX Crew-10 mission is now set for 7:03 PM on March 14.
This mission aims to transport four crew members to the International Space Station. Previously, mission managers opted to postpone a launch attempt scheduled for Thursday due to anticipated high winds and rain along the Dragon's flight path.
Additionally, launch teams are addressing a hydraulic system issue related to a ground support clamp arm for the Falcon 9 rocket at Launch Complex 39A, located at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
If the Crew-10 launch occurs on March 14, the Crew-9 mission, which includes NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Sunita Williams, and Butch Wilmore, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, will leave the space station no sooner than Wednesday, March 19, depending on weather conditions at the splashdown sites off Florida's coast.
Meanwhile, NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov will remain in the Astronaut Crew Quarters at NASA Kennedy in Florida.
Crew-10 marks the 10th crew rotation mission of SpaceX's human space transportation system and its 11th crewed flight, including the Demo-2 test flight, as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program.
This mission will utilize the 13th flight of the first stage booster, which has previously supported launches for Crew-7, CRS-29, PACE, Transporter-10, EarthCARE, NROL-186, and six Starlink missions. After stage separation, the Falcon 9 will land at Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4) at Vandenberg Space Force Base. The Transporter-13 mission is a dedicated small satellite rideshare initiative, carrying a total of 74 payloads.
