Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been stuck on the ISS since June 2024
SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule on an approach to the International Space Station (ISS)open image in gallery
SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule on an approach to the International Space Station (ISS) (Nasa )
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SpaceX plans to launch the mission that will enable the rescue of two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station “no earlier than Friday”, after scrubbing an attempt on Wednesday due to a ground system issue.
US astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have been stuck on the ISS for the last nine months, will now have to wait until at least next Wednesday to return to Earth.
Nasa said in a statement that Wednesday’s Crew-10 launch attempt was called off due to a hydraulic system issue with a ground support clamp arm for the Falcon 9 rocket, while a backup launch window on Thursday was abandoned due to poor weather conditions.
Friday’s launch attempt will aim to deliver a replacement crew for the ISS in a mission that would set up the return to Earth of Wilmore and Williams – stuck in space since June after a trip on Boeing's faulty Starliner craft.
Nasa had moved up the mission by two weeks after President Donald Trump and his adviser Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, called for Wilmore and Williams to be brought back earlier than Nasa had planned.
A planned eight-day stay on the orbiting station has dragged on for Wilmore and Williams, both veteran astronauts and US Navy test pilots. Starliner returned to Earth without them last year.
SpaceX's rocket had been scheduled to blast off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral at 7:48 pm ET (11:48 pm GMT) with a crew of two US astronauts and one astronaut each from Japan and Russia.
Wilmore and Williams have been working on research and maintenance with the space station's other astronauts and have remained safe, according to Nasa. Williams told reporters in a 4 March call that she is looking forward to seeing her family and dogs upon returning home.
"It's been a roller coaster for them, probably a little bit more so than for us," Williams said of her family. "We're here, we have a mission – we're just doing what we do every day, and every day is interesting because we're up in space and it's a lot of fun."
The flight, known as Crew-10, normally would be considered a routine astronaut rotation. Instead, it has become entangled in politics as Trump and Musk have sought – without offering evidence – to blame former President Joe Biden for the delayed return of Wilmore and Williams.
This image provided by Nasa shows Nick Hague, right, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmoreopen image in gallery
This image provided by Nasa shows Nick Hague, right, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore (Nasa)
The demands by Trump and Musk for an earlier return were an unusual intervention in Nasa's human spaceflight operations. The mission previously had a target date of 26 March, but Nasa swapped a delayed SpaceX capsule with a different one that would be ready sooner.
When the new crew arrives aboard the station, Wilmore, Williams and two others – Nasa astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov – can return to Earth in a capsule that has been attached to the station since September, as part of the prior Crew-9 mission.
Wilmore and Williams cannot leave until the new Crew-10 craft arrives so that the ISS staffed with enough US astronauts for maintenance, according to Nasa.
Wilmore and Williams flew to the station in June as the first test crew of Boeing's Starliner, which suffered propulsion system issues in space. Nasa deemed it too risky for the astronauts to fly home on the Boeing craft. This led to the current plan to bring them home in a SpaceX capsule.
Nasa said it is now targeting a launch for 7:03 pm EDT (11:03 pm GMT) on Friday from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Additional reporting from agencies.