1 of 12 | A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket sits on pad 39A after the launch of the Crew-10 mission was scrubbed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday. Photo by Pat Benic/UPI | License Photo
March 12 (UPI) — NASA and SpaceX on Wednesday night scrubbed the Falcon 9 launch of a flight intended to retrieve from the International Space Station astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have spent nine months in orbit because of technical concerns about their Boeing capsule.
About a half hour before the scheduled 7:48 p.m. EDT launch from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, the mission was called off because of a hydraulic system issue with a ground support clamp arm, NASA said.
A new launch date and time wasn’t given.
But another SpaceX flight launched later Wednesday from Florida. The second Falcon 9 lifted off at 10:35 p.m. from nearby Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. That mission is for 21 Starlink satellites, including 13 with direct-to-cell capabilities. This flight, which had been delayed three times, landed 8 1/2 minutes later on the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas.
SpaceX or NASA didn’t give details about the hydraulic problem on the pad for the earlier flght.
The four members who were strapped into their seats aboard the Dragon capsule: two NASA astronauts, commander Anne McClain and pilot Nichole Ayers, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takuya Onishi.
Crew members rode black Teslas for the ride to the rocket. Elon Musk owns SpaceX and is CEO of Tesla.
There had been at least a 95% chance of favorable weather conditions, according to launch weather officers with Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s 45th Weather Squadron.
“All aboard! The #Crew10 crew have now boarded and completed their communication checks inside the @SpaceX Dragon spacecraft in preparation for their 7:48pm ET launch to the @Space_Station,” NASA posed on X.
The launch is a joint mission of NASA and SpaceX.
Besides Wilmore and Williams, Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov are scheduled to return to Earth, too.
NASA said in an online statement Thursday that the four returning astronauts completed more than 900 hours of research that included over 150 “unique scientific experiments and technology demonstrations during their stay aboard the orbiting laboratory.”
Wilmore and Williams have been in space since June 2024 after taking part in the first crewed test flight of Boeing’s Starliner.
Their mission aboard the ISS was only supposed to take a week, but the Boeing capsule intended to take them home experienced malfunctions and a fuel leak, so NASA and Boeing chose to leave them in space as their craft was returned successfully returned unmanned.
NASA announced in August that it planned to return Williams and Wilmore to Earth on a SpaceX vehicle in February. But NASA said in December the mission would be delayed to late March because of issues with a new Crew Dragon capsule SpaceX.
“This is my happy place,” Williams said in September. “I love being up here in space. It’s just fun. You know, every day you do something that’s work – quote, unquote – you can do it upside down. You can do it sideways, so it adds a little different perspective.”
The two astronauts ended up merging with the team already aboard the ISS, helping them with their mission.
The new crew will spend several months aboard the ISS conducting spacewalks, research demonstrations, and experiments for the benefit of humanity and deep space exploration.
