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March 13, 2025 | 02:01 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - NASA and SpaceX have delayed the Crew-10 mission launch, originally set for Wednesday, March 12, 2025, due to hydraulic issues with the Falcon 9 rocket’s ground support clamps.
According to Reuters, this postponement also affects the return of American astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have been stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) for nine months.
In an official statement, NASA mentioned that the launch was canceled due to a disruption in the transporter-erector clamp arm, the structure that supports Falcon 9 on the launch pad. The technical team is currently working to resolve the issue.
Kudos from the whole team. I know it was a lot of work to try to go, but like I said earlier, we'll be ready when the equipment is," said Crew-10 commander, Anne McClain, to the launch controllers after the cancellation, quoted from Space.com, Thursday, March 13, 2025.
NASA is now targeting a launch no earlier than March 14, 2025, at 19:03 EDT or March 15, 2025, at 06:03 WIB (Western Indonesia Time). The launch attempt on Thursday was also canceled due to poor weather forecasts along the flight path of the Crew Dragon capsule.
If Crew-10 is successfully launched on Friday, the Crew-9 mission, carrying Wilmore and Williams, is expected to depart from the ISS on March 19, 2025.
Wilmore and Williams previously traveled to the ISS in June 2024 using the Boeing Starliner capsule on its first crewed test flight. However, propulsion system issues led NASA to decide not to use it for the return trip, requiring them to wait for a replacement capsule.
Williams acknowledged that the situation has been tougher for her family than for herself, as she continued to perform her duties at the ISS.
"It's been a roller coaster for them, probably a little bit more so than for us," Williams said of her family, quoted by Reuters. "We're here, we have a mission - we're just doing what we do every day, and every day is interesting because we're up in space and it's a lot of fun."
The SpaceX Crew-10 consists of McClain and pilot Nichole Ayers (NASA), as well as astronaut Takuya Onishi from Japan and cosmonaut Kirill Peskov from Russia. They are scheduled to stay at the ISS for six months, replacing the Crew-9 crew, including Wilmore and Williams, who will finally be able to return to Earth after waiting for months.
The U.S. space agency accelerated the mission by two weeks after President Donald Trump and his advisor, CEO of SpaceX Elon Musk, pressured NASA to bring Wilmore and Williams back earlier than planned.
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