SpaceX Crew-10 Mission Docks With ISS, Sunita Williams And Butch Wilmore Can Finally Return Now
Crew-9 became the first SpaceX mission that took only two astronauts to the ISS. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsules typically transport four astronauts.
SpaceX's four-member Crew-10 mission arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday, March 16, with four astronauts after around 24 hours of an orbital chase, NASA said. The Dragon capsule, named Endurance, docked with the orbiting lab's Harmony module around 9:40 am IST.
The Crew-10 mission comprising four astronauts from three nations — NASA's Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Takuya Onishi from Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov — had launched early Friday morning (March 15) atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Now, the hatches between the two spacecraft will open, followed by welcoming remarks by the Crew-10 members and farewell remarks by the Crew-9 team after around half an hour. NASA is broadcasting the events live.
Stage Set For Return Of Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore
Commander Anne McClain and Pilot Nichole Ayers, along with mission specialists Takuya Onishi and Kirill Peskov will join seven astronauts currently at the space station. This mission is the 10th crew rotation with SpaceX as part of the Commercial Crew Program of NASA. This crew is scheduled to conduct scientific investigations to help prepare humans for future missions, NASA said.
Crew-10's arrival paves the way for the return of NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry 'Butch' Wilmore, whose short mission extended for an indefinite period after the Boeing Starliner spacecraft that took them to the ISS developed issues. They will return on SpaceX Dragon's Freedom capsule along with Crew-9 members Nick Hague (NASA) and Aleksandr Gorbunov (Roscosmos).
Crew-9 became the first SpaceX mission that took only two astronauts to the ISS. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsules typically transport four astronauts, but NASA reduced Crew-9’s roster to just two — Hague and Gorbunov — to reserve seats for the two Starliner astronauts.
Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams had initially travelled to the ISS in June 2024 aboard the Starliner spacecraft during its first crewed flight. The mission was originally planned to last around 10 days, but technical issues with Starliner’s thrusters led NASA to extend its stay at the station for further evaluation.
After careful assessment, NASA determined that attempting to return Wilmore and Williams aboard Starliner posed too great a risk. As a result, the capsule was sent back to Earth without a crew on September 7. After the Crew-9 capsule arrived at the ISS, the two were fully integrated into the Crew-9 spacecraft.
Their return to Earth is now scheduled "no earlier than March 19", depending on the weather conditions.
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