Houston: NASA has confirmed that Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams, along with fellow astronaut Butch Wilmore, is scheduled to leave the International Space Station (ISS) by March 19, 2025, at the earliest. This marks a key milestone in the ongoing Crew-9 mission, which has been operating aboard the ISS for several months.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission, which will launch four new crew members to the ISS, is now targeting a launch window at 7:03 PM ET on March 14, pending favorable weather conditions. The mission will carry astronauts to the space station as part of the ongoing human spaceflight program supported by NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
The launch was initially delayed due to unfavorable conditions. Mission managers had earlier called off a launch attempt on Thursday after forecasts predicted high winds and precipitation along the flight path of the Dragon capsule. In addition, engineers are addressing a hydraulic issue related to a ground support clamp arm for the Falcon 9 rocket at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
With the Crew-10 launch slated for March 14, the Crew-9 mission, which includes NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Sunita Williams, and Butch Wilmore, along with Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, will return to Earth no earlier than March 19. The timing will depend on weather conditions at the designated splashdown sites off the coast of Florida.
Meanwhile, astronauts Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, Takuya Onishi from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov will remain in Astronaut Crew Quarters at Kennedy Space Center, continuing their preparations for future missions.
Crew-10 represents SpaceX’s 10th crew rotation mission, marking the 11th time the company has flown crew members to the ISS, including the Demo-2 test flight. The Falcon 9 rocket launching Crew-10 will also support its 13th flight of the first stage booster, which has previously launched various missions, including Crew-7, CRS-29, and several Starlink launches. After separating from the rocket’s second stage, the booster will land at Vandenberg Space Force Base’s Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4) in California.
In addition to the crewed mission, SpaceX’s Transporter-13 is also slated for liftoff, carrying 74 small satellite payloads to space. This dedicated smallsat rideshare mission will further expand SpaceX’s capacity to transport a variety of payloads for commercial and scientific purposes.
As the mission progresses, all eyes will be on the successful execution of Crew-10’s launch and the safe return of Crew-9, marking another chapter in NASA’s partnership with SpaceX in advancing human space exploration.