Spacex postponed a mission on Wednesday to take to the next crew to work at the International Space Station (ISS) and start the return of a couple of astronauts back to Earth.
The postponement of the launch was announced on Wednesday night before what would have been the scheduled launch time.
There was a problem with the hydraulic system on the launch side. It is a terrestrial problem with the launch tower and not a problem with the spacecraft, according to Spacex.
Spacex said that a backup window on Thursday at 7:48 pm et and Friday at 7:03 pm et would be available.
NASA BOEING BOEING Crew Test Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams inside the lobby between the front port in the harmony module of the International Space Station and the Starliner spacecraft.
POT
Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams have been in space since June 2024 after performing the first test flight of Boeing’s Starliner. When they launched, they were supposed to only in the ISS for about a week.
However, NASA and Boeing officials decided to send the Starliner without land reduction in September after several numbers and keep Wilmore and Williams on board until the beginning of 2025, when CREW-10 was ready to launch in the Dragon spacecraft. Wilmore and Williams will return in the crew capsule.
The couple joined the CREW-9 mission aboard the ISS and could not return to the earth until CREW-9 completed their six-month mission and were replaced by CREW-10.
Wilmore and Williams helped crew with research and other responsibilities. However, NASA officials said the couple was using more supplies for the ISS crew.
Mission of the crew -10 ROSCOSMOS Cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, NASA NASA Ayers and Anne McClain and Jaxa Astronaut Takuya Onishi left the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and the construction of the order to launch the 39A complex, at the Kennedy Space Center in CaPe Ceptavera, Fla., Fla. 2025.
Gregg Newton/AFP through Getty Images
Steve Stich, program manager of the NASA commercial crew program, said that NASA’s teams spent all summer looking at Starliner data and felt that there was too much risk with respect to vehicle’s thrusters.
During a press conference in September, Wilmore said he and Williams were not disappointed by anything during the mission.
“Tell you? Absolutely not,” Wilmore said. “He has never entered my mind. It’s a fair question. I can tell you that I thought a lot about this press conference … and what I wanted to say and transmit.”
“NASA does a great job by making many things look easy,” he said, and added, “This is how it goes. Sometimes because we are pushing the edges of the envelope in everything we do.”
If the mission is successful, it is not clear when exactly Wilmore and Williams will return to Earth in CREW-9.
NASA’s Dragon Spacex Dragon Dragon spacecraft in a Falcon 9 rocket, which will transport NASA’s crew-10, is docked in the Kennedy Space Center 39A launch complex as part of its launch preparations at the Kennedy Kennedy Space Center in NASA, in Titusville, Fla., March 12, 2025.
Cristóbal Herrera -ulavich/EPA through Shuttersock
The crew consists of two NASA astronauts, an astronaut from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and an astronaut of the Russian Roscosmos.
Spacex will share a live web broadcast from the mission from an hour and 20 minutes before takeoff on its website and on its X account. NASA will also issue coverage in its X account.
“During its time in the orbiting laboratory, the crew will carry out new investigations to prepare for human exploration beyond the orbit of the low earth and benefit humanity on earth,” Spacex said on his website.
The contracted missions of Spacex are part of the largest commercial crew program in NASA, which are certified to perform routine missions to and from the ISS.
