NASA, SpaceX delay mission meant to bring back astronauts stranded on ISS

NASA and SpaceX on Wednesday (12 Mar ’25) scrubbed the launch attempt of the agency's Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station due to a "hydraulic system issue with a ground support clamp arm for the Falcon 9 rocket at Launch Complex 39A" at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.The next available launch opportunity is no earlier than 7:26 pm EDT on Thursday, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy pending review of the issue, according to the statement released by NASA. Launch coverage will start at 3:25 pm (local time) on NASA+. and docking is targeted at 11:30 pm (local time) on Friday.

A crew of four will head to the ISS onboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for a six-month stay. The mission is being launched to bring back Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita Williams, Fox News report. "With a March 13 Crew-10 launch, the Crew-9 mission with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, would depart the space station no earlier than 9:05 a.m. Monday, March 17, pending weather at the splashdown locations off the coast of Florida," the NASA said in a statement.

"Crew-10 is the 10th crew rotation mission of SpaceX's human space transportation system and its 11th flight with crew aboard, including the Demo-2 test flight, to the space station through NASA's Commercial Crew Program," it added. Ahead of the scheduled launch on Wednesday, US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth shared a video message to express support for NASA's SpaceX Crew-10, Fox News reported.

In a video posted on X, Hegseth stated, "I just want to take a brief moment to say we are praying for you." He added, "We wish you Godspeed, and we look forward to welcoming you all home soon." "President Trump said to Elon Musk, 'get the astronauts home and do it now' - and they're responding," Hegseth said. "And they're bringing NASA astronauts, [who] also happen to be retired US Navy Capt. Butch Wilmore and retired US Navy Capt. Suni Williams, home," he added, according to the Fox News report.

Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams have been stranded on the ISS for nine months after reaching there in June last year. They were supposed to stay there for about a week. The astronauts were transported from Earth to the ISS aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. However, the spacecraft came back to Earth unmanned in September. This came after Starliner faced "helium leaks" and "issues with the spacecraft reaction control thrusters" while docking with the ISS, according to Fox News report.

The launch was scheduled for Wednesday after US President Donald Trump urged SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to rescue the stranded astronauts sooner than NASA had planned. He has repeatedly accused former US President Joe Biden of abandoning them in space. On March 7, Trump said that he has authorised Elon Musk to bring back American astronauts- Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore who have been stranded at the International Space station since June last year.

Speaking to media persons at the Oval Office about the two astronauts on Friday, Trump said, "We love you (astronauts), and we're coming up to get you, and you shouldn't have been up there so long. The most incompetent President in our history has allowed that to happen to you, but this President won't let that happen. We're going to get them out. We're coming up to get you. I've authorized Elon, because, you know, they've been left up there. I hope they like each other. But they've been -- maybe they'll love each other. I don't know. They've been left up there."

Speaking about Sunita Williams, Trump said, "And I see the woman with the wild hair, good, solid head of hair she's got. There's no kidding. There's no games with her hair. But, and you know, there's a danger up there, too. They can have some failures up there. That would be very bad. You've got to get them out. So I've authorized Elon a week ago. I said, you know, we have two people up there that Biden and Kamala left up there. And he knows it very well. I said, are you equipped to get him? He (Elon) said, yeah, he's got a starship. And they're preparing it right now."

Trump said that he would greet them once the two astronauts returned. "Well, when they come back, I'll greet them. How about that? No, no, we're going to get them out. I've authorized Elon Musk to go and get them. And he's prepared to do so."