Houston (Texas) [US], March 15: SpaceX and NASA have launched a mission to bring US astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore back from the International Space Station (ISS), where they have been stranded for nine months. The launch took place at 7:03 ET on Friday, with a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon spacecraft on the Crew-10 mission.
The mission also successfully sent four new crew members to the ISS: NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.
Crew-10 marks the 10th crew rotation mission under SpaceX’s human space transportation system and the 11th flight to the ISS through NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, including the Demo-2 test flight.
Williams and Wilmore had been on the ISS since June of the previous year and were initially scheduled to stay for only a week, but have remained due to extended mission requirements.
Ahead of the launch, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shared a video message expressing support for the Crew-10 mission. “We are praying for you,” Hegseth said, adding, “We look forward to welcoming you all home soon.” He also referenced a message from President Trump to Elon Musk: “Get the astronauts home and do it now.”