NASA Announces the Launch Date for the Crew-10 Mission This Month Following Donald Trump's Decision.
Sunita Williams will return after the launch of the Crew-10 mission.
NASA announced on Thursday the launch date for the Crew-10 mission, scheduled for 6:18 AM IST on March 13 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Four astronauts will board SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft bound for the International Space Station (ISS) to relieve Crew-9. The launch broadcast, set for 7:48 PM ET on Wednesday, March 12, will be available on NASA and SpaceX platforms.
The detailed mission schedule includes docking at the space station at 8:30 PM, the astronauts' entry at 10:50 PM, and a welcome ceremony scheduled for 12:20 PM the following day. The astronauts participating in this mission are Anne McClain (commander) and Nichole Ayers (pilot) from NASA, along with Takuya Onishi from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Kirill Peskov from Roscosmos. Currently, all are in a two-week quarantine period leading up to the launch.
SpaceX has also shared images of the Dragon spacecraft, which has arrived at Launch Complex 39A for the Crew-10 mission. This mission represents the tenth crewed flight and the eleventh carried out by SpaceX for NASA since 2020, as part of the Commercial Crew Program.
It is noteworthy that the mission is launching earlier than expected, following instructions from U.S. President Donald Trump to Elon Musk to bring astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore back as soon as possible. Trump accused the Biden administration of "abandoning" the astronauts, which has extended their mission in the Starliner capsule from eight days to nine months. Williams and Wilmore will return alongside Crew-9 astronauts Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov during the scheduled return mission around March 19.