NASA on Tuesday announced that it swapped out the astronaut capsule it was planning to use with a previously flown SpaceX Crew Dragon for its Crew-10 mission, a scheduling move that will allow Starliner astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore to return to Earth sooner than expected.
The US space agency announced that it was accelerating the target launch and return dates for the upcoming crew rotation missions to and from the International Space Station.
The launch, which was previously scheduled for March 25, has now been moved up to March 12, Wednesday. However, this is “pending mission readiness and completion of the agency’s certification of flight readiness process,” NASA said in its announcement.
The Crew-9 mission will return after completing a handover procedure with the newly arrived Crew-10 expedition team, the space agency said.
NASA said that the mission management teams decided to use an already flown SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule instead of a new one as its production has apparently been delayed.
The capsule, which will now be used, is called ‘Endurance’. “Teams will work to complete Dragon’s refurbishment and ready the spacecraft for flight, which includes trunk stack, propellant load, and transportation to SpaceX’s hangar at 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to be mated with the mission’s Falcon 9 rocket,” NASA’s statement said.
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore had flown off to the ISS on Boeing’s Starliner capsule in June 2024, following which the aircraft hit multiple snags, including a helium leak. Since the two NASA astronauts have been at the space station, with Sunita taking charge of the ISS.
The two astronauts’ return is dependent on the arrival of the Crew-10 mission’s four-member expedition crew, who will keep the space station staffed at normal levels.
The Crew-10 mission comprises of NASA astronauts Anne McClain, commander and Nichole Ayers, pilot. JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, mission specialist; and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, mission specialist.
‘Human spaceflight full of unexpected challenges’
Notably, the latest development follows the abrupt demand US President Donald Trump made to SpaceX CEO and close ally Elon Musk last month, asking him to bring back Sunita and Butch back to Earth “as soon as possible” and pleading for an end to their mission. Of this, the larger part of the two astronauts’ return had already been discussed and decided by NASA.
After Trump’s demand to Musk, NASA had reaffirmed its plans to bring home Sunita and Butch, saying that it would do so “as soon as practical”.
In its Tuesday’s statement, the space agency did not the specifically mention that its decision to change the Crew-10 capsule was made with an intention to bring home the Starliner crew early.
Steve Stich, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager, said, “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,” he added.
