Watch SpaceX launch a relief crew for ‘stuck’ Starliner astronauts
At 7:03 p.m. EDT, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft, carrying NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, launched from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, March 14, 2025..
NASA
Four astronauts are on their way to the International Space Station (ISS). After several delays, the members of Crew-10 lifted off in a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft using a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:03 p.m. ET on Saturday night. The crew includes NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.
“Congratulations to our NASA and SpaceX teams on the 10th crew rotation mission under our commercial crew partnership. This milestone demonstrates NASA’s continued commitment to advancing American leadership in space and driving growth in our national space economy,” said NASA acting Administrator Janet Petro. “Through these missions, we are laying the foundation for future exploration, from low Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars. Our international crew will contribute to innovative science research and technology development, delivering benefits to all humanity.”
You can rewatch the NASA livestream of the launch below:
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 Launch (Official NASA Broadcast)
The members of Crew-10 will replace the current Crew-9 on the ISS, including Starliner astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. Wilmore and Williams were originally supposed to spend just over a week in space as part of the test of Boeing’s new Starliner spacecraft, but due to problems with the vehicle’s thrusters they ended up joining the ISS crew for nine months. Now, they — along with their other Crew-9 crew mates — will finally make the journey home.
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However, despite what some people have claimed, Wilmore and Williams have not been abandoned or forgotten about. The plan to bring them home with other Crew-9 astronauts has been in place for months, and was only somewhat delayed from the original intended departure of February due to issues with the SpaceX vehicle.
Now, with the impending arrival of Crew-10 at the ISS, there will be a short handover period and then the Crew-9 astronauts can return to Earth.
The Crew-10 astronauts are expected to arrive at the ISS tonight, March 15, at 11:30 p.m. ET. If you’d like to watch their Dragon arriving at the station, docking, and the astronauts being welcomed to their new home, then you can tune in via NASA’s streaming service, NASA+, with coverage beginning at 9:45 p.m. ET.
Georgina has been the space writer at Digital Trends space writer for six years, covering human space exploration, planetary…
Problems with Starship force SpaceX to call off test flight at the last minute
SpaceX was set to perform another test of the world’s most powerful rocket last night, but the launch was scrubbed in the final minute before takeoff. Now the eighth test flight of the Starship will have to wait for at least a day as engineers check on problems with the rocket.
Starship was scheduled to blast off from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas at 6:30 p.m. ET (3:30 p.m. PT) on Monday, March 3, and the rocket was fueled and on the pad ready for takeoff. But the countdown clock was paused at T-40 seconds, and SpaceX said there were issues that could involve both the first stage (aka the Super Heavy booster) and the upper stage (aka the Ship).
SpaceX Crew-10 astronauts’ journey to orbit starts now (sort of)
SpaceX’s Crew-10 astronauts are set to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft on March 12. But in many ways, their journey to orbit started on Wednesday.
That’s because the four crewmembers — NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov — have just entered quarantine at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. They’ll remain there until five days before launch day, when they’ll be transferred to the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the Kennedy Space Center for final mission preparations.
SpaceX just launched another mission to the moon
SpaceX has successfully launched Intuitive Machines’ Athena lander toward the moon in the IM-2 mission. Athena is scheduled to reach the lunar surface on Thursday, March 6.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the uncrewed lunar lander lifted off from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:16 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Febraury 26.
