SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 7:03 p.m. ET (23:30 GMT) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying four astronauts who will replace Wilmore and Williams, both of whom are veteran NASA astronauts and retired U. Navy test pilots and were the first to fly Boeing’s Starliner capsule to the ISS in June.
Otherwise a routine crew rotation flight, Friday’s Crew-10 mission is also a long-awaited key step to bring the astronaut duo back to Earth. They are scheduled to depart the station on March 19 after the Crew-10 astronauts arrive Saturday night.
“We came prepared to stay long, even though we planned to stay short,” Wilmore said, adding that he did not believe NASA’s decision to keep them on the ISS until Crew-10’s arrival had been affected by politics.
NASA says the two astronauts have had to remain on the ISS to maintain its minimum staffing level.
Trump and Musk’s demand for an earlier return was an unusual intervention, and NASA brought forward the Crew-10 mission from March 26, swapping a delayed SpaceX capsule for one that would be ready sooner.
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager, Steve Stich, said SpaceX’s “rapid pace of operations” had required NASA to change some of the ways it verifies flight safety.
Bowersox said it was hard for NASA to keep up with SpaceX: “We’re not quite as agile as they are, but we’re working well together.”
If Crew-10 launches as planned on Friday, it will dock to the ISS at 11:30 p.m. ET Saturday (0330 GMT Sunday), followed by a traditional handover ceremony that will allow for the Crew-9 crew’s departure on March 19.
With wires
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