Crew-10’s Revised Timeline
Crew-10, which can carry NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, together with JAXA’s Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, is now scheduled for a late-March launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. This adjustment pushes again Crew-9’s return, leaving Wilmore and Williams aboard the ISS for about 9 months as an alternative of the initially deliberate 10-day mission.
The delay arose as SpaceX completes its newest Crew Dragon capsule, which is expected to reach at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in January 2025 for last processing and testing. Steve Stich, Manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said within the official launch that fabricating and integrating a brand new spacecraft requires meticulous consideration to element.
Unexpected Mission Extension
Wilmore and Williams had been built-in into the Crew-9 mission after their Starliner capsule, slated for an preliminary 10-day journey, encountered technical challenges. NASA’s Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, who launched aboard the Crew Dragon Freedom in September 2024, had been joined by Wilmore and Williams throughout their extended mission.
This is just not unprecedented; astronauts have beforehand confronted prolonged ISS missions. Notable examples embody Scott Kelly’s year-long twin research in 2015-2016 and Frank Rubio’s 365-day keep following problems with a Soyuz spacecraft.
SpaceX’s increasing Crew Dragon fleet is anticipated to reinforce mission flexibility, permitting NASA higher adaptability in managing ISS operations and addressing unexpected delays.