Starliner pair’s stay drags on as Crew-10 launch scrubs

The launch of the next crew to the International Space Station (ISS) was postponed to no earlier than Friday, March 14, due to a hydraulic issue with a group support clamp arm for the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket during March 12’s countdown.

The four Crew-10 astronauts were already strapped into the Crew Dragon capsule when the launch was called off. The hydraulic problem had been identified early in the process, and mission controllers worked to resolve it throughout the countdown. The decision to scrub the launch came before the crew access arm was retracted and the vehicle was fueled.

Initially, mission managers aimed for a 24-hour turnaround following the scrubbed launch. However, due to high winds and precipitation along the Crew Dragon’s flight path, the launch has been rescheduled to 1903 EDT on Friday, March 14. The delay also gives workers more time to deal with the hydraulic issue.

Crew-10 is perceived by some as a “rescue mission” for Starliner astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have been aboard the ISS since June 2024 as part of Boeing’s Crew Flight Test. The first crewed flight of the Starliner capsule faced multiple technical issues, including thruster malfunctions. This led NASA to extend Wilmore and Williams’ stay on the station, which was originally planned for about a week but has now lasted nine months. As a result, Starliner returned to Earth uncrewed in September 2024.

At the end of January, US President Donald Trump instructed SpaceX boss Elon Musk to “go get” the Starliner duo.

In fact, Crew-10 is primarily a standard crew rotation mission to the ISS, bringing four new astronauts: NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA’s Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos’ Kirill Peskov. Williams and Wilmore will be returning to Earth, with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov in the Crew-9 capsule, which is currently docked at the ISS.

Meanwhile, the ISS has been facing challenges due to concerns about the consumption of onboard resources. To mitigate this, the handover between Crew-9 and Crew-10 has been shortened. According to NASA, if Crew-10 launches on March 14, Crew-9’s return to Earth could occur as early as March 19. ​

The issue with consumables aboard the ISS is due to worries about a Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo spacecraft, the shipping container of which was damaged on the way to the launch site in Florida. As a result, NASA has adjusted the cargo manifest for the upcoming SpaceX CRS-32 mission to prioritize essential supplies, such as food and other consumables, over certain science payloads.

A source at another space agency told The Register that the changing of payload was causing “a lot of pain right now” and warned that should CRS-32 not make it to the ISS for some reason, there was a chance that the ISS might have to be at least partially decrewed.

While the idea of Elon Musk sending a “rescue mission” for the “stranded” Starliner astronauts might be appealing to some, it is misleading. The focus should be on April’s SpaceX cargo resupply mission. SpaceX has been having a few problems this year; the Crew Dragon for Crew-10 was swapped due to manufacturing delays, a Falcon 9 first stage caught fire and tipped over after landing, and an uncontrolled reentry of a Falcon 9 second stage resulted in debris landing in Poland.

Space Station managers will be fervently hoping there are no surprises on the CRS-32 mission. ®