Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore To Return 'No Earlier Than March 19' As NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 Launch Delayed

NASA postponed Crew-10 launch to March 14 due to weather concerns and a hydraulic issue with Falcon 9 rocket. Crew-10 marks SpaceX's 10th crew rotation mission under NASA's Commercial.

Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will return along with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.

Source : NASA

NASA and SpaceX have rescheduled the launch of the Crew-10 mission to no earlier than 7.03 pm EDT on Friday, March 14 (4.33 am IST, Saturday, March 15). The decision to delay the mission was made due to high winds and precipitation forecast along the flight path of the Dragon spacecraft, NASA said. Initially planned for March 13, the postponement aims to ensure safer launch conditions.  

In addition to weather concerns, launch teams are addressing a hydraulic system issue related to a ground support clamp arm for the Falcon 9 rocket at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Engineers are working to resolve the issue ahead of the revised launch schedule, NASA said.  

The Crew-10 mission includes NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. The four-member team remains in Astronaut Crew Quarters at Kennedy Space Center as they await the new launch date.  

#Crew10 status: NASA and SpaceX are standing down on the March 12 launch attempt.

Watch the mission blog for updates, including a revised launch date and time. https://t.co/PjgAZaWWAo

— NASA (@NASA) March 12, 2025

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Crew-9 Return With Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore

NASA’s live coverage of the launch will begin at 3 pm EDT on March 14 (12.30 am, March 15) on NASA+. If the mission proceeds as planned, Crew-10 is expected to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) at 9 am IST on Saturday, March 16.  

With the Crew-10 launch set for March 14, the return of Crew-9 astronauts Nick Hague, Sunita Williams, and Butch Wilmore, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, is now scheduled "no earlier than Wednesday, March 19", depending on weather conditions at the splashdown sites off the Florida coast, NASA said.  

Crew-10 marks the 10th operational crew rotation mission of SpaceX’s human spaceflight program for NASA and its 11th overall crewed mission, including the Demo-2 test flight. The mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which aims to ensure continued human spaceflight capabilities to the ISS through public-private partnerships.  

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