SpaceX delays flight to replace NASA's stuck astronauts after hydraulics problem

Thomson Reuters

· Posted: Mar 13, 2025 6:19 AM EDT | Last Updated: 40 minutes ago

NASA and SpaceX connected Wednesday delayed the motorboat of a replacement unit of 4 astronauts to the International Space Station that would person acceptable successful question the long-awaited homecoming of U.S. astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.

NASA had been acceptable to motorboat a SpaceX rocket from Florida carrying a replacement unit for the International Space Station successful a ngo that would acceptable up the instrumentality to Earth of Wilmore and Williams — stuck successful abstraction for 9 months aft a travel connected Boeing's faulty Starliner.

The motorboat was called disconnected owed to a hydraulic strategy contented with a crushed enactment clamp limb for the Falcon 9 rocket, NASA said successful a statement.

Launch teams are moving to code the issue, it said successful different statement.

NASA said it is present targeting a motorboat nary earlier than 7:03 p.m. ET connected Friday aft ngo managers enactment disconnected a motorboat effort connected Thursday due to the fact that of precocious winds and rainfall forecast successful the formation way of Dragon.

Could statesman flight home adjacent Wednesday 

With a Friday Crew-10 launch, the Crew-9 ngo with astronauts Wilmore and Williams would depart the abstraction presumption adjacent Wednesday it said.

The U.S. abstraction bureau had moved up the ngo by 2 weeks aft U.S. President Donald Trump and his advisor Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, called for Wilmore and Williams to beryllium brought backmost earlier than NASA had planned.

A planned eight-day enactment connected the orbiting presumption has dragged connected for Wilmore and Williams, some seasoned astronauts and U.S. Navy trial pilots. Starliner returned to Earth without them past year.

SpaceX's rocket had been scheduled to blast disconnected from the Kennedy Space Center successful Cape Canaveral astatine 7:48 p.m. ET with a unit of 2 U.S. astronauts and 1 astronaut each from Japan and Russia.

WATCH | Why the astronauts are inactive connected the ISS: 

Wilmore and Williams person been moving connected probe and attraction with the abstraction station's different astronauts and person remained safe, according to NASA. Williams told reporters successful a March 4 telephone that she is looking guardant to seeing her household and dogs upon returning home.

'Every time is interesting'

"It's been a roller coaster for them, astir apt a small spot much truthful than for us," Williams said of her family. "We're here, we person a ngo — we're conscionable doing what we bash each day, and each time is absorbing due to the fact that we're up successful abstraction and it's a batch of fun."

The flight, known arsenic Crew-10, usually would beryllium considered a regular astronaut rotation. Instead, it has go entangled successful authorities arsenic Trump and Musk person sought — without offering grounds — to blasted erstwhile president Joe Biden for the delayed instrumentality of Wilmore and Williams.

The demands by Trump and Musk for an earlier instrumentality were an antithetic involution successful NASA's quality spaceflight operations. The ngo antecedently had a people day of March 26, but NASA swapped a delayed SpaceX capsule with a antithetic 1 that would beryllium acceptable sooner.

When the caller unit arrives aboard the station, Wilmore, Williams and 2 others — NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov — can instrumentality to Earth successful a capsule that has been attached to the presumption since September, arsenic portion of the anterior Crew-9 mission.

Wilmore and Williams cannot permission until the caller Crew-10 trade arrives truthful that the ISS is staffed with capable U.S. astronauts for maintenance, according to NASA.

Faulty Boeing spacecraft

Wilmore and Williams flew to the presumption successful June arsenic the archetypal trial unit of Boeing's Starliner, which suffered propulsion strategy issues successful space. NASA deemed it excessively risky for the astronauts to alert location connected the Boeing craft. This led to the existent program to bring them location successful a SpaceX capsule.

Boeing built Starliner nether a $4.5-billion US declaration with NASA to vie with SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, which since 2020 has been the U.S. abstraction agency's lone conveyance for sending ISS unit members to orbit from American soil. Last year's ngo had marked Starliner's archetypal trial formation with astronauts aboard, a request earlier NASA could certify the capsule for regular astronaut missions.

Starliner's improvement has been plagued with engineering issues and outgo overruns since 2019, putting it acold down SpaceX's Crew Dragon, which was developed nether a akin NASA declaration worthy astatine slightest $4 cardinal US.