Nasa, SpaceX try again to launch rocket set to bring back stuck astronauts
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Nasa astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have been stuck at the International Space Station for nine months.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON – Nasa and SpaceX on March 14 will count down to a long-awaited crewed rocket launch that will allow them to bring home American astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, who have been stuck on the International Space Station (ISS) for nine months.
SpaceX and the US space agency had planned on March 12 to launch from Florida a replacement crew of four astronauts, a mission called Crew-10, but a last-minute issue with the rocket’s ground systems forced a delay
Now slated for liftoff at 7.03pm ET on March 14 (7.03am on March 15 in Singapore), the Crew-10‘s arrival to the ISS late on March 15 will allow the return of Captain Wilmore and Captain Williams. They are veteran Nasa astronauts and US Navy test pilots who in June 2024 were the first humans to test-fly Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft to the ISS in June.
But problems with Starliner’s propulsion system during its flight to the ISS delayed what was expected to be an eight-day stay. Nasa deemed it too risky for the astronauts to fly home on the Boeing craft, which led to the current plan to bring them home in a SpaceX capsule.
It has also become entangled in politics
“We came prepared to stay long, even though we planned to stay short,” Capt Wilmore said, adding that, from his standpoint, politics played no role in Nasa’s decision to keep them on the ISS until Crew-10‘s arrival.
“That’s what your nation’s human spaceflight programme’s all about: planning for unknown, unexpected contingencies, and we did that,” he said.
The astronaut duo has been doing scientific research and conducting routine maintenance with the space station’s other astronauts, and have remained safe, Nasa has said.
The demands by Mr Trump and Mr Musk for an earlier return were an unusual intervention in Nasa’s human spaceflight operations. The mission previously had a target date of March 26, but Nasa swopped a delayed SpaceX capsule with a different one that would be ready sooner.
When the new crew arrives aboard the station, Capt Wilmore, Capt Williams and two others – Nasa astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov – can return to Earth in a capsule that has been attached to the station since September, as part of the prior Crew-9 mission.
If Crew-10 launches as planned on March 14, it will dock to the ISS at 11.30pm on March 15, followed by a traditional handover ceremony that will allow for the Crew-9 crew’s departure on March 19.
Capt Wilmore and Capt Williams cannot leave until the new Crew-10 craft arrives so that the ISS is staffed with enough US astronauts for maintenance, according to Nasa. REUTERS
