Launch Scrub Leaves ISS Astronauts Waiting
CAPE CANAVERAL — On Wednesday, March 12, 2025, SpaceX scrubbed the Crew-10 mission launch at 7:48 p.m. ET (4:48 p.m. PT), delaying the replacement crew for the International Space Station (ISS) and pushing back the homecoming of NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. The duo, stuck in orbit for nine months after an eight-day Boeing Starliner test flight went awry, now face an uncertain return timeline. A last-minute launchpad glitch—a hydraulic issue with a clamp securing the Falcon 9, per NASA’s livestream—halted the countdown. “Rocket’s fine, ground system’s not,” a NASA spokesperson said. No new date is set, but a retry could come within days.
Starliner’s Fallout: 9 Months and Counting
Wilmore and Williams blasted off June 5, 2024, on Starliner’s first crewed test, meant to certify Boeing’s $4.5 billion NASA craft against SpaceX’s Crew Dragon ($4B+ contract). Propulsion woes—helium leaks and thruster failures—forced NASA to ditch Starliner for their return, landing it empty in September. The astronauts joined Crew-9’s Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov, awaiting Crew-10’s arrival to swap out and hitch a ride home on the docked Crew Dragon Freedom. “It’s fun up here,” Williams told reporters March 4, shrugging off the “roller coaster” her family’s endured. X posts echo, “They’re pros—NASA’s got this.”
Trump and Musk Stir the Pot
The scrub follows a political twist: President Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk demanded an earlier return, claiming—without proof—the Biden admin “abandoned” the pair. Trump’s January 28 Truth Social post (“Elon will go get them”) and Musk’s X salvo (“Biden refused us”) prompted NASA to swap Crew-10’s delayed new Dragon for the veteran Endurance, shaving two weeks off the late-March target to March 12. “Routine, not rushed,” NASA’s Steve Stich countered last month, per Ars Technica—Crew-9’s set for a handover, not an emergency exit. X users split: “Trump’s flexing” vs. “NASA’s plan was solid.”
What’s Next for Crew-10 and the ISS?
Crew-10—Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers (NASA), Takuya Onishi (JAXA), and Kirill Peskov (Roscosmos)—must reach the ISS before Crew-9 departs, keeping U.S. staffing intact (Don Pettit’s the lone American otherwise). SpaceX aims to fix the launchpad hydraulics fast; past scrubs (Crew-8, 2024) relaunched in 48 hours. Boeing’s Starliner, plagued by $1.5B+ overruns since 2019, faces certification limbo—SpaceX’s 10 ISS crewed flights since 2020 dwarf it. With Tesla up 8% Wednesday and Northvolt’s bankruptcy, tech’s volatile—will Crew-10 lift off Friday? Watch SpaceX’s next call—this saga’s far from over.
