A planned SpaceX mission that was set to launch on Wednesday has been postponed due to a hydraulic issue with the launch tower at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The mission, part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, was expected to transport a new crew to the International Space Station (ISS) while facilitating the long-delayed return of astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams.
The launch delay, which SpaceX confirmed on Wednesday evening, is unrelated to the spacecraft itself. The company is now targeting Friday at 7:03 p.m. ET for the next attempt.
Wilmore and Williams have been aboard the ISS since June 2024, following the first crewed test flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. Their mission was originally planned to last about a week, but NASA and Boeing opted to keep them on the station due to concerns over Starliner’s thruster system.
Instead of returning on Starliner, the two astronauts became part of Crew-9, which has been conducting research and station maintenance. However, NASA officials have acknowledged that their prolonged stay has increased resource consumption aboard the ISS, making their return a priority.
According to Steve Stich, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager, teams have spent months reviewing data on Starliner and determined that the risks associated with the vehicle’s thrusters were too significant to proceed with a return on that spacecraft.
The current delay stems from an issue with the ground-based hydraulic system of the launch tower, rather than any malfunction with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket or Crew Dragon capsule.
This postponement affects Crew-10, which consists of NASA astronauts Nichole Ayers and Anne McClain, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.
Crew-10’s arrival is critical for the planned return of Crew-9, including Wilmore and Williams. SpaceX has stated that a successful Friday launch would enable Crew-9’s return shortly thereafter, but no specific date has been confirmed.
Crew-10 mission Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, NASA astronauts Nichole Ayers and Anne McClain and JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi walk out of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building en route to launch complex 39A, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., March 12, 2025.
The complications surrounding Starliner’s first crewed mission raise concerns about the future of Boeing’s role in NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. While NASA has emphasized the importance of having multiple transportation options for astronauts, Starliner’s thruster issues have delayed its operational certification.
Wilmore, addressing questions about the extended mission in a September 2024 press conference, stated:
“Let down? Absolutely not. It’s never entered my mind. It’s a fair question. I can tell you, I thought a lot about this press conference … and what I wanted to say and convey. NASA does a great job of making a lot of things look easy. That’s just the way it goes sometimes because we are pushing the edges of the envelope in everything that we do.”
NASA will provide live coverage of the Crew-10 launch attempt on its official channels, while SpaceX will stream the event on its website and social media platforms. If successful, Crew-10 will conduct experiments and research aimed at advancing human spaceflight beyond low-Earth orbit.
