The NASA SpaceX Crew-10 successfully left Earth on the way to its rescue mission at the International Space Station.
The launch from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, initially planned for Wednesday, was delayed due to hydraulic issues with the clamp arm that kept the Falcon-9 rocket in place, then was held up amid wind Thursday. It finally launched at 7:03 p.m. Friday.
The SpaceX Dragon craft, carrying four crew members to the ISS, is expected to dock at 11:30 p.m. Eastern time Saturday, NASA said in a release. The team aboard, NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi and Russia’s Kirill Peskov, will acclimate to the station for a couple of days upon arrival.
Once they’re settled in, four people will return to Earth on another SpaceX Dragon craft that’s already docked at the ISS. Two of them are NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have been there since June.
Although their space sojourn was supposed to last only a week, NASA didn’t think the Boeing Starliner vehicle that took them there was safe enough for the return flight.
The SpaceX craft for the trip back to Earth has been docked at the ISS since September, but Ms. Williams and Mr. Wilmore were kept up in space so as not to leave the ISS undermanned.
The pair, along with fellow NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, will leave the ISS no earlier than Wednesday and splash down off the coast of Florida, according to NASA.
