NASA and SpaceX Delay Mission to Retrieve Stranded Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore
Just under an hour before the scheduled launch, SpaceX postponed the Falcon 9 rocket launch from Florida, which was meant to carry four astronauts replacing the stranded NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore.
As stated by NASA and SpaceX, today's Crew-10 mission launch to the International Space Station has been cancelled due to a problem with the hydraulic system of a ground support clamp arm associated with the Falcon 9 rocket at Launch Complex 39A in NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
NASA is now targeting a launch no sooner than 7:03 PM EDT (4:33 AM IST) on Friday, March 14. “Mission managers convened this evening and opted to cancel the launch attempt on Thursday, March 13, owing to predicted strong winds and rain in the flight path of the Dragon,” the agency announced.
NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, along with JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, have exited the Dragon spacecraft safely. The rocket remains unharmed as well.
The plan was for the SpaceX Crew Dragon to transport Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore back if everything had proceeded smoothly by March 19. NASA had planned for a faster turnaround for the SpaceX Crew Dragon to reduce the consumption of resources at the International Space Station.
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