CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Members of the SpaceX Crew-10 mission are bound for the launch pad ahead of their journey to space.
NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, as well as JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, exited NASA’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building (O&C) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) this afternoon (March 12), to taxi several miles down the road to the site’s Launch Complex-39A. There, their ride to orbit — a two-stage, 230-foot-tall (70-meter) tall Falcon 9 rocket topped with the Crew Dragon capsule Endurance — awaits their ingress.
The quartet are launching on SpaceX‘s 10th commercial crew launch for NASA, for a roughly six-month stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS). McClain, the Crew-10 mission commander, exited the O&C this afternoon with her crewmates around 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT). They greeted an awaiting crowd of friends, family and media with smiles, waves and a few personal farewells before boarding a pair of Tesla Model Xs for the drive across KSC.
The Crew-10 astronauts will spend about 14 hours catching up to the ISS after liftoff this evening, with a rendezvous and docking scheduled for early Thursday morning (March 13).
This is the second mission to the space station for McClain and Onishi, who flew as members of ISS Expeditions 48/49 and 58/59 in 2016 and 2019, respectively. Onishi is flying as a Crew-10 mission specialist and will assume the role of Expedition 73 commander during a change of command ceremony a few days following their arrival. Crew-10 will be the first space launch for mission pilot Ayers and mission specialist Peskov.
Related: SpaceX Dragon capsule arrives at launch site for Crew-10 astronaut flight to ISS (photos)
Crew-10 is expected to remain aboard the space station for about six months. The astronauts serve as the relief crew for the Crew-9 spaceflyers, who are finishing up their own ISS residency. Crew overlaps are more than just standard procedure aboard the orbital lab, which relies on a continuous crew for its ongoing operation. Normally that overlap lasts about a week or so, but Crew-10 orientation is being fast-tracked in order to return Crew-9 as soon as possible.
NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are two of the four members of Crew-9, and have been in space since they launched to the ISS on June 5 of last year. Their mission, the first crewed flight test of Boeing’s Starliner capsule, was expected to last about 10 days but was prolonged after problems with Starliner forced an extension of their stay aboard the station.
NASA and Boeing studied the issues on the ground, and, after about three months, decided to fly Starliner back to Earth without Williams and Wilmore. The two were written into the manifest for Crew-9, which launched the Crew Dragon Freedom to the ISS in late September with NASA astronaut Nick Hague, Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov and two empty seats for Williams and Wilmore on the return journey.
Now, after nearly 10 months in space, the arrival of Crew-10 will usher in the long-awaited return flight for Williams and Wilmore. Barring any launch delays today, Crew-9 will depart the ISS on March 16.
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Crew-10 is scheduled to lift off this evening at 7:48 p.m. EDT (2348 GMT). Ongoing coverage of the launch began at 3:45 p.m. EST (1945 GMT), with a livestream available on the Space.com homepage, as well as on NASA’s NASA+ streaming service and SpaceX’s Crew-10 mission page and through the company’s account on X.
Their arrival at the ISS is expected Thursday, with docking scheduled for 6 a.m. EDT (1000 GMT). Coverage of the arrival will be available on the Space.com homepage, and the NASA+ streaming service starting at 4:15 a.m. EDT (0815 GMT), Thursday.
