‘Stranded’ Astronauts Return to Earth as SpaceX Dragon Docks
After a long 9 months with the International Space Station (ISS), two NASA astronauts, Sunita “Suni” Williams and Butch Wilmore are a step closer to home as SpaceX successfully launched a crew of astronauts to switch them out.
The crew, four Crew-10 astronauts, will ride a SpaceX Dragon Capsule powered by a Falcon 9 rocket inKennedy Space Center at 7.03 p.m. EDT. The Crew-10 astronauts include Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers from NASA, Takuya Onishi from Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.
"We celebrate the countless individuals all over the world that have made this journey possible," said astronaut Nichole Ayers, the designated pilot of the Crew-10 mission, just before launch.
The initial launch was planned for Wednesday evening, though it was postponed due to a problem with a ground support clamp arm on the Falcon 9 rocket. SpaceX subsequently explained the hydraulic system issue was fixed, and the crew was once again cleared for take-off on Friday.
Crew-10 docked with the station on March 16, 2025, at 12:04 a.m. EDT. They will spend a few days undergoing a "handover" period with Williams and Wilmore.
The American duo from Crew-9, William and Wilmore, docked on the ISS during September of 2024. If all goes according to plan, Williams, Wilmore, Hague, and Gorbunov will climb aboard the Crew-9 spacecraft and head back to Earth on March 19.
