SpaceX on Wednesday scrubbed the planned launch of a replacement crew of four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), delaying the long-awaited return of US astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. The two have been stranded in space for nine months following their trip aboard Boeing’s malfunctioning Starliner spacecraft.
The launch was called off due to a last-minute technical issue with the rocket’s launchpad, officials announced during a livestream of the countdown. It remains unclear when the next launch attempt will be, but the nature of the issue suggests a potential retry in the coming days.
NASA had planned to send a SpaceX rocket from Florida to deliver a new crew to the ISS, paving the way for Wilmore and Williams to return home. The mission was expedited by two weeks after President Donald Trump and his adviser, SpaceX CEO [Elon Musk](https://financialexpress.com/about/elon-musk/), urged an earlier return for the astronauts.
Originally scheduled for an eight-day stay, Wilmore and Williams’ mission has stretched far beyond expectations. Starliner, which transported them to the station last June, returned to Earth without them due to propulsion system issues, leaving them aboard the ISS.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket had been set to launch from Kennedy Space Center at 7:48 p.m. ET (2348 GMT), carrying two US astronauts, along with one astronaut each from Japan and Russia. NASA has assured that Wilmore and Williams remain safe, continuing their work on research and maintenance alongside other ISS crew members.
“It’s been a roller coaster for them, probably more so than for us,” Williams said during a March 4 press conference, adding that she looks forward to reuniting with her family and pet dogs.
The Crew-10 mission, typically a routine astronaut rotation, has become politically charged. Trump and Musk have blamed former President Joe Biden for the astronauts’ prolonged stay—without providing evidence. Their intervention in NASA’s operations was an unusual move, leading to NASA’s decision to swap a delayed SpaceX capsule for one available sooner, shifting the mission’s target date from March 26 to an earlier launch window.
Once the new crew arrives at the ISS, Wilmore, Williams, NASA astronaut Nick Hague, and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will be able to return to Earth aboard a capsule that has been docked since September as part of the Crew-9 mission. Until then, Wilmore and Williams must remain onboard to maintain a sufficient number of US astronauts for station operations.
Wilmore and Williams were the first test crew for Boeing’s Starliner, developed under a $4.5 billion NASA contract meant to compete with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. However, Starliner’s numerous engineering problems and cost overruns have delayed its progress, leaving Crew Dragon—developed under a similar NASA contract worth at least $4 billion—as the agency’s only active vehicle for crewed ISS missions since 2020.