Spacex’s mission to bring the Starliner astronaut house is postponed due to hydraulic problems
Spacex delayed the mission on Wednesday to bring the next crew to work at the International Space Station (ISS) and began the return of a pair of astronauts back to earth.
The launch delay was announced on Wednesday night before what would be the scheduled launch time.
There is a problem with a hydraulic system on the launch side. This is a matter of land with the launch tower and not a problem with spacecraft, according to Spacex.
Spacex said that now targeting the launch on Friday at 19:03 et.
Astronaut flight test Boeing Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams pose for portraits in the front room between the front ports in the Harmony Module of International Space Station and Starliner Boeing Space Aircraft, June 13, 2024.
NASA
Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams have been in space since June 2024 after they made the first crew test flight from Starliner Boeing. When they were launched, they should only be in ISS for about one week.
However, NASA and Boeing officials decided to send starliners who did not increase back to earth in September after several problems and keeping Wilmore and Williams remained until early 2025 when the crew-10 were ready to be launched on the dragon spacecraft. Wilmore and Williams will return in the Crew-9 capsule.
The couple is integrated with the mission of the crew-9 that is taking place above ISS and cannot return to Earth until the crew-9 completes the mission of six months and is replaced by Crew-10.
Wilmore and Williams help crew with research and other responsibilities. However, NASA officials said the couple used more inventory intended for the ISS crew.
Crew-10 Mission Roscosmos Cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, Astronaut Nasa Nichole Ayers and Anne McClain and Astrona Jaxa Takuya Onishi walked out of Neil A. Armstrong operations in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Gregg Newton/AFP via Getty Images
Steve Stich, a program manager for the NASA commercial crew program, said that the NASA team spent throughout the summer to see starliner data and felt there were too many risks regarding the driving force of the vehicle.
During a press conference in September, Wilmore said he and Williams did not feel disappointed by anything during the mission.
“It’s disappointed? Not at all,” said Wilmore. “It never entered my mind. This is a fair question. I can tell you, I think a lot of this press conference … and what I want to say and say.”
“Nasa does a good job to make a lot of things look easy,” he said, added, “that’s how. Sometimes because we push the edge of the envelope in everything we do.”
If the mission is successful, it is unclear when exactly when Wilmore and Williams will return to earth with crew-9.
NASA Spacex Dragon Endeavour Spacecraft on the Falcon 9 rocket, which will carry NASA crew-10, looks close to the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A as part of its launch preparation at the NASA Kennedy Space Center, in Titusville, Florida, March 12, 2025.
Cristobal Herrera-Ulashkevich/EPA through Shutterstock
The crew consists of two NASA astronauts, an astronaut from the Japanese Aerospace exploration agency and an astronaut from Russian Roscosmos.
Spacex will share webcasts directly from the mission starting for one hour and 20 minutes before taking off on the website and on the X -account. NASA will also air coverage on his X account.
“During their time in orbiting laboratories, the crew will conduct new research to prepare human exploration outside of the earth’s low orbit and to benefit humanity on earth,” Spacex said on his website.
The spacex contracted mission is part of a larger commercial crew program in NASA, which is certified to carry out routine missions to and from ISS.
