SpaceX’s Crew-10 mission launch scrubbed, leaving Starliner astronauts still on the ISS

Crew-10 launch scrubbed

Craig Patrick reports.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - SpaceX's Crew-10 mission launch scheduled for Wednesday evening has been scrubbed less than an hour before because of a hydraulics issue with a claw arm that attaches to the rocket.

The launch was scheduled to happen at 7:48 p.m. Wednesday, but SpaceX posted on X that they were "standing down" from the launch opportunity. SpaceX and NASA are now targeting no earlier than Friday, March 14, at 7:03 p.m. with a backup opportunity available on Saturday, March 15, at 6:41 p.m.

The four astronauts who were supposed to board the SpaceX Dragon Crew spacecraft, called Endurance, planned to arrive at the International Space Station and relieve members of the Crew-9 mission, including two Starliner astronauts who have been on the ISS since June 2024.

WATCH: SpaceX Starship explodes, scattering debris over Atlantic Ocean

Starliner astronauts still on the ISS

The backstory:

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams took an eight-day test flight on June 5, 2024, that turned into a nine-month stay in space. A series of bugs and leaks on Boeing’s Starliner convinced NASA to send it back to Earth uncrewed, leaving Wilmore and Williams behind.

"Butch and Suni have taken everything that’s been thrown at them and the way they have responded to that has been an example," said NASA Astronaut Nick Hague.

They said they were prepared to stay on the space station if the Starliner test flight did not go as planned.

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What they're saying:

"Eventually, we want to go home, because we left our families a little while ago, but we have a lot to do while we're up here, and we have got to get all that stuff done before we go home," Williams said.

Who will be on the Crew-10 mission?

Dig deeper:

The Crew-10 team includes Commander Anne McClain and Pilot Nicole Ayers of NASA, Mission Specialist Kirill Peskov of Russia’s Roscosmos, and Mission Specialist Takuya Onishi of Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency.

The work on the International Space Station includes research to improve human health, enhance building materials, and help NASA prepare for the planned Artemis missions to send astronauts back to the moon.

READ: NASA astronauts still stranded in space take first spacewalk together

Why you should care:

However, the Crew-10's launch was scheduled for take off at a potential fork in the road for NASA. The Trump administration is scrutinizing contracts and salaries and could order significant changes.

President Donald Trump and his advisor and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk have expressed particular interest in future missions to Mars. Artemis is designed to be a glide path from the moon to Mars but could be subject to change pending further review by the Trump administration.

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