SpaceX to try again to launch Crew-10 to space station as Starliner astronauts wait

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — SpaceX volition effort again Friday evening to motorboat the replacement unit to the International Space Station wherever the brace of NASA astronauts who flew up past summertime connected Boeing’s Starliner person been waiting for a thrust home.

A Falcon 9 rocket connected the Crew-10 ngo is acceptable to assistance disconnected from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-A astatine 7:03 p.m. topped with the Crew Dragon Endurance.

Flying up are 4 unit including NASA astronauts Anne McClain commanding the mission, aviator Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.

If the motorboat goes up, the quartet are slated to get to the ISS astatine 11:30 p.m. Saturday, which would commencement the countdown for the Crew-9 ngo to instrumentality home.

On committee Crew-9 volition beryllium the 2 Starliner astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who arrived to the presumption connected June 6, 2024 for what was expected to beryllium arsenic abbreviated arsenic an eight-day stay. Instead, they person been connected committee much than 9 months.

The Starliner suffered thruster failures and helium leaks connected its trial formation truthful NASA yet opted to nonstop it location without unit leaving its 2 astronauts connected committee until they could alert location with the Crew-9 ngo that didn’t get to the presumption until September.

Also heading backmost location are Crew-9 commandant and NASA astronaut Nick Hague arsenic good arsenic Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.

Crew-9 volition beryllium departing the presumption nary earlier than Wednesday, though however agelong the instrumentality travel to Earth volition beryllium has not been announced by NASA. Some crewed Dragon flights person made the travel location successful little than six hours, portion others person taken much than a day.

For the motorboat effort Friday, it comes 2 days aft the archetypal attempt, but an contented with the clamp limb that holds the Falcon 9 rocket upright astatine the pad forced the delay. It wouldn’t fto spell of the rocket.

Ground teams connected Thursday completed an inspection of the enactment hydraulic strategy utilized for the limb and were capable to flush a suspected pouch of trapped aerial successful the system, according to an update from NASA.

“I americium highly arrogant of our NASA and SpaceX crushed engineers and associated operations teams successful rapidly identifying and resolving this issue,” said NASA Commercial Crew Program manager Steve Stich. “I’m particularly arrogant of the team’s systematic attack passim the countdown, analyzing information and making thoughtful decisions to guarantee the integrity of our mission. Their committedness to some excellence and information is simply a existent testament to the spot of this integrated team.”

Space Launch Delta 45’s upwind squadron forecasts a amended than 95% accidental for bully motorboat conditions.

The first-stage booster flying connected this ngo is making its 2nd travel to space, and volition effort a betterment landing astatine adjacent Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Landing Zone 1, meaning immoderate parts of Central Florida whitethorn perceive a sonic boom.

This is the 4th travel to abstraction for Crew Dragon Endurance.