{"id":9916,"date":"2025-02-12T20:46:42","date_gmt":"2025-02-12T12:46:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-announces-new-launch-date-for-crew-10-swap-of-spacex-dragon-spacecraft-following-construction-delays\/"},"modified":"2025-02-12T20:46:42","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T12:46:42","slug":"nasa-announces-new-launch-date-for-crew-10-swap-of-spacex-dragon-spacecraft-following-construction-delays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-announces-new-launch-date-for-crew-10-swap-of-spacex-dragon-spacecraft-following-construction-delays\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA announces new launch date for Crew-10, swap of SpaceX Dragon spacecraft following construction delays"},"content":{"rendered":"
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NASA\u2019s SpaceX Crew-10 members stand in front of a Falcon 9 first-stage booster at SpaceX\u2019s HangarX facility at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. From left are Mission Specialist Takuya Onishi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency),Pilot Nichole Ayers of NASA, Commander Anne McClain of NASA and Mission Specialist Kirill Peskov of Roscosmos. Image: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NASA has a new launch date for the SpaceX Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station. The move comes after the agency decided to replace a brand new Dragon spacecraft with a previously flown capsule.<\/p>\n

NASA astronaut and mission commander Anne McClain will lead two other astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut on the journey to the orbiting outpost, now targeting a liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center no earlier than Wednesday, March 12.<\/p>\n

The flight will begin a period of transition onboard the ISS in what is referred to as a direct handover with the current U.S. Orbital Segment (USOS) crew onboard. The transition period of several days allows the incoming crew to familiarize themselves with the current configuration of the space station and understand ongoing operations.<\/p>\n

Following this, the Crew Dragon Freedom will undock to bring Crew-9 back to Earth. That quartet consists of NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.<\/p>\n

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The official portrait of the International Space Station\u2019s Expedition 72 crew. At the top (from left) are, Roscosmos cosmonaut and Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin, NASA astronaut and space station Commander Suni Williams, and NASA astronaut and Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore. In the middle row are, Roscosmos cosmonaut and Flight Engineer Ivan Vagner and NASA astronaut and Flight Engineer Don Pettit. In the bottom row are, Roscosmos cosmonaut and Flight Engineer Aleksandr Gorbunov and NASA astronaut and Flight Engineer Nick Hague. Image: NASA\/Bill Stafford and Robert Markowitz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The undocking date for Crew-9 will be determined by the weather conditions off the coast of Florida. This is will be the final Dragon splashdown off the coast of Florida before recovery operations shift to the West Coast.<\/p>\n

NASA decided in late summer to have Williams and Wilmore return as part of Crew-9 after issues with Boeing\u2019s Starliner spacecraft prevented them from returning as planned on that spacecraft at the conclusion of the Crew Flight Test mission.<\/p>\n

Dragon delays, Dragon shuffles<\/h4>\n

The launch of the Crew-10 mission has been a moving target for sometime. In an August 2024 blog post, NASA said it was targeting a launch \u201cno earlier than February 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mission was also set to introduce what is planned to be SpaceX\u2019s fifth and final Crew Dragon spacecraft. The unnamed capsule has the tail number C213 and has been the main driver behind the shifting timeline.<\/p>\n

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SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket lifts off with the CRS-26 resupply mission to the International Space Station. Credit: Spaceflight Now<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During a teleconference ahead of the launch of the CRS-26 launch in November 2022, Sarah Walker, SpaceX Director of Dragon Mission Management, said the company was building its fifth Cargo Dragon to \u201ccarry us into the future and make sure we can support as many flights as our customers want to fly with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the capsule \u201cshould be ready in the 2024 timeframe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, in a January 2024 teleconference ahead of the launch of the Ax-3 private astronaut mission managed by Axiom Space, Benji Reed, the Senior Director of Human Spaceflight Programs at SpaceX, reaffirmed that the C213 Dragon would be ready \u201clater this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

During a July 2024 press conference regarding the Crew-9 mission, Spaceflight Now asked about the status of the newest Crew Dragon, since at that point there were no more Dragon missions left unassigned in 2024. Walker said it was \u201calmost done\u201d and \u201cnearing completion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steve Stich, Manager of NASA\u2019s Commercial Crew Program, followed Walker\u2019s comments and confirmed that that Dragon was still at SpaceX\u2019s facilities in Hawthorne, California, \u201cgetting assembled in the cleanroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going through it\u2019s final preparation. Right now, it\u2019s slated for Crew-10 in February,\u201d Stich said. \u201cIt\u2019s exciting to have another brand new Dragon spacecraft for Crew-10. That\u2019s the plan right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

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NASA\u2019s SpaceX Crew-10 members (from left to right) Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, NASA astronauts Nichole Ayers and Anne McClain, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi pictured training at SpaceX in Hawthorne, California.
Image: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, plans began to shift a bit when in December, NASA announced in a blog post the new Crew Dragon\u2019s delivery was taking longer than anticipated and wouldn\u2019t arrive in Florida until \u201cearly January\u201d 2025. As a result the agency delayed the launch of Crew-10 to \u201clate March 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFabrication, assembly, testing, and final integration of a new spacecraft is a painstaking endeavor that requires great attention to detail,\u201d Stich said in the post. \u201cWe appreciate the hard work by the SpaceX team to expand the Dragon fleet in support of our missions and the flexibility of the station program and expedition crews as we work together to complete the new capsule\u2019s readiness for flight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither SpaceX nor NASA provided any further detail on what was delaying the Dragon delivery despite requests for comment from news outlets, including Spaceflight Now.<\/p>\n