Following a postponed attempt earlier in the week, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission successfully launched on Friday evening from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, en route to the International Space Station. NASA astronauts Sunita “Suni” Williams and Butch Wilmore are now closer to returning home from the ISS. The spacecraft, propelled by a Falcon 9 rocket, accelerated to a speed of 17,500 mph after liftoff at 7:03 p.m. ET on Friday.
The launch was rescheduled from Wednesday due to an issue with a ground support clamp arm on the Falcon 9 rocket, which was subsequently resolved. The Crew-10 team includes NASA astronaut Anne McClain, Commander of the mission; NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers, Mission Pilot; Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takuya Onishi; and cosmonaut Kirill Peskov from Roscosmos, the Russian space agency.
Docking at the ISS is set for Saturday at 11:30 p.m. ET, with the crew expected to enter the station at 1:05 a.m. ET on Sunday. Williams and Wilmore were initially planned for a week-long stay on the ISS but ended up staying for nine months due to safety concerns about their return aboard the Boeing Starliner spacecraft.
During their extended mission on the ISS, Williams broke the record for the most spacewalking time by a woman, accumulating 62 hours and 6 minutes outside the station. The duo arrived at the ISS in early June and were later joined by additional crew members via Soyuz and SpaceX missions. The SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom capsule, currently docked at the station, will be used to bring Williams, Wilmore, and the Crew-9 astronauts back home, while the Crew Dragon Endurance will remain at the ISS alongside the Soyuz spacecraft.
Both the Crew-10 and the existing crew will collaborate during the transition phase at the ISS.
NASA has stated that Williams and Wilmore may return home as early as Wednesday after collaborating meticulously to facilitate a seamless handover. According to NASA, Crew-10 is set to carry out over 200 scientific experiments and technology demonstrations during their mission, aiming to advance human exploration farther into space. The successful launch of SpaceX Dragon in a mission to bring NASA astronauts back to Earth from the ISS was initially reported on abcnews.go.com.
