In a news release Tuesday, NASA and SpaceX announced they are moving forward with adjusted launch and return timelines for the upcoming crew rotation missions to and from the International Space Station (ISS).
The agency has now set a target launch date of Wednesday, March 12, for the Crew-10 mission, contingent on mission readiness and completion of NASA’s flight readiness certification process. Meanwhile, Crew-9 is scheduled to return to Earth about a week later following a brief handover period with the newly arrived Crew-10 astronauts.
The decision to move up the Crew-10 launch comes after mission management opted to revise the original plan, which had called for a brand-new Dragon spacecraft. That vehicle requires additional processing time, prompting NASA and SpaceX to instead utilize a previously flown Dragon capsule, Endurance. Joint teams are currently evaluating the spacecraft’s previously used components to ensure they meet NASA’s safety and certification standards under the Commercial Crew Program.
This will probably be the most closely watched crew changes yet, as Crew 9 contains astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. Wilmore and Williams were assigned to Crew 9 after they arrived at the ISS on their Boeing Starliner last June for what was to have been an eight-day mission. Problems with the Starliner led to the spacecraft being flown back to earth without them, dramatically extending their time on the station. Many mainstream media outlets and even President Trump have since referred to them as “abandoned” or “stranded” in space, though that never really was the case.
“Human spaceflight is full of unexpected challenges. Our operational flexibility is enabled by the tremendous partnership between NASA and SpaceX and the agility SpaceX continues to demonstrate to safely meet the agency’s emerging needs,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. “We greatly benefit from SpaceX’s commercial efforts and their proactive approach in having another spacecraft ready for us to assess and use in support of Crew-10.”
SpaceX, which owns and operates the Dragon fleet, will now have more time to complete assembly and integration activities for the new spacecraft while simultaneously launching Crew-10 and returning Crew-9 sooner. The upcoming Crew-10 mission will mark the fourth flight for Endurance, which has previously supported Crew-3, Crew-5, and Crew-7.
In preparation for launch, SpaceX teams are working to complete Endurance’s refurbishment, including trunk stacking, propellant loading, and transportation to the company’s hangar at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. There, the spacecraft will be integrated with the Falcon 9 rocket that will carry it to orbit.
Crew-10 will consist of four astronauts: NASA’s Anne McClain, serving as commander; NASA’s Nichole Ayers as pilot; JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi as mission specialist; and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov as mission specialist. Their arrival at the ISS will initiate a brief overlap with the Crew-9 astronauts, allowing for a smooth transition of operations and responsibilities aboard the station.
During this transition, Crew-9 members—NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov—will help familiarize the new arrivals with ongoing scientific experiments and station maintenance before returning to Earth. Their departure will depend on weather conditions at designated splashdown sites off the coast of Florida.
NASA and SpaceX continue to coordinate closely to ensure a seamless crew rotation process, maintaining the continuous human presence on the ISS while advancing scientific research and technology development in microgravity
