After a long nine-month stay at the International Space Station (ISS), NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore were to finally return to Earth aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft. But just an hour before lift-off, the space agency announced that they have decided to “stand down” the March 12 Crew-10 mission.
Why did NASA cancel the Crew-10 mission?
The launch, which was originally scheduled from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida was reportedly cancelled citing a “hydraulic system issue with a ground support clamp arm for the Falcon 9 rocket.”
Following this, NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov exited the Dragon spacecraft.
.@NASA and @SpaceX now target the launch of the #Crew10 mission for no earlier than 7:03pm ET on Friday, March 14, to the International Space Station.
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) March 13, 2025
When is the next launch?
The US space agency said that the next available launch opportunity is no earlier than 7:26 PM EDT on March 13, which translates to 4:56 AM IST on March 14. The launch coverage will start at 3:25 PM EDT or 12:55 AM on Friday with docking targeted at 11:30 PM EDT (9 AM IST).
If successful, the Crew-9 mission with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Sunita Williams, Barry Wilmore, and Aleksandr Gorbunov will be leaving the International Space Station after 9:05 AM EDT on March 17.
To give you a quick recap, Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore went on a 10-day mission aboard the Boeing Starliner last year. Since then, they have been stranded and living on the International Space Station for almost a year. They were later joined by NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Akelsandr Gorbunov and were to return to Earth in February, but now all four will be coming back on March 16.
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