SpaceX Delays Mission To Bring Back Astronauts Sunita Williams And Butch Wilmore Due To Hydraulics Issue, Says NASA

SpaceX’s Crew-10 astronaut launch for NASA was postponed due to a hydraulics glitch. The Elon Musk-led rocket manufacturing company has rescheduled the mission for Friday, Mar. 14.

What Happened: The four-person Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) by SpaceX was called off on Mar. 12, reported Space.com

The Falcon 9 rocket was ready for takeoff from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, but a malfunction in the transporter-erector’s hydraulics system led to the delay.

The issue was related to a clamp arm on the transporter-erector. The Falcon 9 rocket and its Crew Dragon capsule, named Endurance, remained unaffected by the issue.

“This is a concern of basically just how the vehicle is held in place during release at liftoff,” stated Mike Ravenscroft, launch vehicle office manager with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

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After the scrub, Crew-10 commander Anne McClain of NASA thanked the launch controllers. The next launch attempt is planned for Friday, Mar. 14, at 7:03 p.m. EDT.

The Crew-10 astronauts, including McClain, pilot Nichole Ayers of NASA, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Kirill Peskov of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, are set to stay at the ISS for approximately six months.

Why It Matters: NASA had previously announced its intention to expedite the return of astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who had been at the space station for over eight months on Boeing Co.’s (NYSE:BA) Starliner spacecraft. The agency had targeted the launch of its Crew-10 mission for March 12.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had earlier said that the delay in returning the astronauts was due to “political reasons”, which was refuted by astronaut Wilmore. The current delay in the Crew-10 mission adds another layer to the ongoing narrative.

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