Sunita Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore, the NASA astronauts whose mission aboard the International Space Station was extended from about eight days to nine months, are finally set to come home.
The return will have to wait a little longer, however. On Wednesday evening, their replacements were set to launch to the orbiting laboratory on a SpaceX rocket and Dragon spacecraft, a key step toward allowing Wilmore and Williams to return to Earth. But less than an hour before the launch, NASA and SpaceX called it off because of an issue with one of the clamps that holds down the rocket before liftoff.
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In a statement, NASA said SpaceX’s next launch attempt would come Friday at 7:03 p.m., meaning Wilmore and Williams could depart the station for home as soon as Wednesday.
The flight, when it occurs, would help bring an end to an extraordinary saga that began when a troubled Boeing spacecraft led NASA to decide to rely on Elon Musk’s SpaceX to get the astronauts home safely — a decision that has since blown up into a political controversy.
SpaceX was initially planning to launch the replacement crew, known as Crew-10, to the space station at 7:48 p.m. Wednesday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew comprises NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi and Russia’s Kirill Peskov. Once they arrive at the station, Wilmore and Williams would work alongside the new crew for the next couple of days, then hand over operations.
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Any number of technical or weather-related issues could force NASA to adjust its schedule, however.
Williams and Wilmore launched to the space station on June 5 in a Boeing Starliner spacecraft. The capsule had never flown people before, and the goal of the mission was to test how it performed over a period of about eight days. From the outset, it did not go well.
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Although the vehicle successfully reached the space station, several of the capsule’s thrusters failed to fire properly, and the spacecraft also suffered helium leaks. Boeing spent weeks trying to solve the issues and argued that the spacecraft could safely return the astronauts. Ultimately, however, NASA said it lost confidence in the company’s ability to fly the crew home safely, and decided that SpaceX, the other company under contract to transport crews to the space station, should do it.
The return will have to wait a little longer, however. On Wednesday evening, their replacements were set to launch to the orbiting laboratory on a SpaceX rocket and Dragon spacecraft, a key step toward allowing Wilmore and Williams to return to Earth. But less than an hour before the launch, NASA and SpaceX called it off because of an issue with one of the clamps that holds down the rocket before liftoff.
Get concise answers to your questions. Try Ask The Post AI.In a statement, NASA said SpaceX’s next launch attempt would come Friday at 7:03 p.m., meaning Wilmore and Williams could depart the station for home as soon as Wednesday.
The flight, when it occurs, would help bring an end to an extraordinary saga that began when a troubled Boeing spacecraft led NASA to decide to rely on Elon Musk’s SpaceX to get the astronauts home safely — a decision that has since blown up into a political controversy.
SpaceX was initially planning to launch the replacement crew, known as Crew-10, to the space station at 7:48 p.m. Wednesday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew comprises NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi and Russia’s Kirill Peskov. Once they arrive at the station, Wilmore and Williams would work alongside the new crew for the next couple of days, then hand over operations.
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Any number of technical or weather-related issues could force NASA to adjust its schedule, however.
Williams and Wilmore launched to the space station on June 5 in a Boeing Starliner spacecraft. The capsule had never flown people before, and the goal of the mission was to test how it performed over a period of about eight days. From the outset, it did not go well.
💻
Follow Technology
Although the vehicle successfully reached the space station, several of the capsule’s thrusters failed to fire properly, and the spacecraft also suffered helium leaks. Boeing spent weeks trying to solve the issues and argued that the spacecraft could safely return the astronauts. Ultimately, however, NASA said it lost confidence in the company’s ability to fly the crew home safely, and decided that SpaceX, the other company under contract to transport crews to the space station, should do it.
