SpaceX Launches NASA Mission For Stranded Astronauts On ISS-Here's How To Watch
SpaceX will launch a crewed NASA mission on Friday to return two astronauts from the International Space Station, after technical issues with Boeing’s spacecraft extended their stay for nine months, leading SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump to suggest they were stranded for “political reasons.”
An earlier launch was delayed just before liftoff.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reservedSpaceX will launch NASA’s Crew-10 mission aboard its Dragon spacecraft from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at about 7:03 p.m. EDT.
NASA will cover the launch starting at 3 p.m. on NASA+, and SpaceX will livestream the event on its website and from its X account starting at roughly 5:40 p.m.
The mission includes NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, who will relieve NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.
Williams and Wilmore arrived at the ISS in June 2024 aboard Boeing’s Starliner, though their return was delayed following a series of technical issues.
Williams, Wilmore, Hague and Gorbunov are scheduled to depart the ISS by Wednesday, March 19, before splashing down off Florida’s coast, according to NASA.
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282. That’s the number of days Wilmore and Williams, whose mission was expected to last between eight and 10 days, have spent on the ISS.
If SpaceX’s launch is delayed again, the company said a backup launch is scheduled for Saturday at 6:41 p.m.
After arriving at the ISS on Boeing’s Starliner in June 2024, NASA delayed a return flight for Wilmore and Williams after officials discovered helium leaks and thruster issues with the spacecraft. SpaceX launched a crewed Dragon capsule to return the stranded astronauts in September, leaving two seats for Wilmore and Williams to return with Hague and Gorbunov. The pair could have returned on the capsule in September, though it would have left the ISS understaffed with just Hague and Gorbunov, according to The New York Times.
Musk claimed the astronauts were left in orbit for “political reasons,” suggesting their return was “postponed to a ridiculous degree.” Musk appeared to back similar comments from President Donald Trump, who suggested without evidence the Biden administration abandoned Wilmore and Williams and intended to “leave them in space.” Williams shut these claims down, however, saying, “I don’t think those words are quite accurate … We are part of something bigger than ourselves, we are part of the International Space Station.” Wilmore said of their extended stay: “It’s been trying at times, no doubt. But stranded? No. Stuck? No. Abandoned? No.”
Crew-10 is the 10th mission rotating staff aboard the ISS while featuring SpaceX’s spacecraft. An earlier launch for Crew-10 was delayed on Wednesday following a “hydraulic ground issue,” and a subsequent effort on Thursday was scrubbed because of high winds and precipitation forecast for Dragon’s flight path, NASA said. The agency has other crewed missions planned aboard SpaceX’s spacecraft, including Crew-11, which NASA said is expected to launch toward the ISS no earlier than July 2025.
SpaceX Delays Manned Flight To Relieve Astronauts Stranded On ISS International Space Station (Forbes)
Musk Says US Astronauts Are Stranded On Space Station For ‘Political Reasons’—As They Reject Claim (Forbes)
