NASA, SpaceX One Step Closer To Bring Back Astronauts Butch Wilmore, Sunita Williams Stranded Due To Boeing's Starliner Issues: Replacement Crew Launches Successfully

NASA and Elon Musk-led SpaceX successfully launched a new crew to the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday, aiming to bring back U.S. astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, who have been on the ISS for an extended period of nine months.

What Happened: The launch occurred at 7:03 p.m. ET from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried four astronauts to replace Wilmore and Williams.

This mission is part of a crew rotation plan that was expedited due to political pressure from President Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO Musk.

The Crew-10 mission is essential for returning Wilmore and Williams to Earth. Initially, they were sent to the ISS aboard Boeing Co.’s (NYSE:BA) Starliner capsule in June.

The Crew-10 team comprises NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.

Upon reaching orbit, McClain introduced a plush origami crane as the mission’s microgravity indicator. The Crew-10 astronauts are expected to arrive at the ISS on Saturday at 11:30 p.m. ET.

Wilmore and Williams are scheduled to depart with two other astronauts on Sunday.

Why It Matters: The mission faced a delay due to a hydraulics issue, which postponed the launch initially scheduled for Wednesday. This delay added to the challenges faced by SpaceX and NASA in the crew rotation process.

Earlier, Musk attributed the delay in returning Wilmore and Williams to “political reasons,” suggesting that the return was postponed past the inauguration date of former President Joe Biden.

However, Wilmore refuted these claims, stating that politics did not play a role in the delay.

The mission’s success is crucial, especially after Boeing's Starliner returned to Earth without crew due to technical issues.

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Photo courtesy: NASA