The Los Angeles Post
U.S. World Business Lifestyle
Today: March 15, 2025
Today: March 15, 2025

SpaceX launches a new crew to the space station to replace NASA's stuck astronauts

SpaceX Stuck Astronauts
March 14, 2025

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) โ€” The replacements for NASAโ€™s two stuck astronauts launched to the International Space Station on Friday night, paving the way for the pairโ€™s return after nine long months.

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams need SpaceX to get this relief team to the space station before they can check out. Arrival is set for late Saturday night.

NASA wants overlap between the two crews so Wilmore and Williams can fill in the newcomers on happenings aboard the orbiting lab. That would put them on course for an undocking next week and a splashdown off the Florida coast, weather permitting.

SpaceX launches a new crew to the space station to replace NASA's stuck astronauts
SpaceX Stuck Astronauts

The duo will be escorted back by astronauts who flew up on a rescue mission on SpaceX last September alongside two empty seats reserved for Wilmore and Williams on the return leg.

Reaching orbit from NASAโ€™s Kennedy Space Center, the newest crew includes NASAโ€™s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, both military pilots; and Japanโ€™s Takuya Onishi and Russiaโ€™s Kirill Peskov, both former airline pilots. They will spend the next six months at the space station, considered the normal stint, after springing Wilmore and Williams free.

โ€œSpaceflight is tough, but humans are tougher," McClain said minutes into the flight.

As test pilots for Boeingโ€™s new Starliner capsule, Wilmore and Williams expected to be gone just a week or so when they launched from Cape Canaveral on June 5. A series of helium leaks and thruster failures marred their trip to the space station, setting off months of investigation by NASA and Boeing on how best to proceed.

SpaceX launches a new crew to the space station to replace NASA's stuck astronauts
APTOPIX SpaceX Stuck Astronauts

Eventually ruling it unsafe, NASA ordered Starliner to fly back empty last September and moved Wilmore and Williams to a SpaceX flight due back in February. Their return was further delayed when SpaceXโ€™s brand new capsule needed extensive battery repairs before launching their replacements. To save a few weeks, SpaceX switched to a used capsule, moving up Wilmore and Williamsโ€™ homecoming to mid-March.

Already capturing the worldโ€™s attention, their unexpectedly long mission took a political twist when President Donald Trump and SpaceXโ€™s Elon Musk vowed earlier this year to accelerate the astronautsโ€™ return and blamed the former administration for stalling it.

Retired Navy captains who have lived at the space station before, Wilmore and Williams have repeatedly stressed that they support the decisions made by their NASA bosses since last summer. The two helped keep the station running โ€” fixing a broken toilet, watering plants and conducting experiments โ€” and even went out on a spacewalk together. With nine spacewalks, Williams set a new record for women: the most time spent spacewalking over a career.

A last-minute hydraulics issue delayed Wednesday's initial launch attempt. Concern arose over one of the two clamp arms on the Falcon rocketโ€™s support structure that needs to tilt away right before liftoff. SpaceX later flushed out the arm's hydraulics system, removing trapped air.

SpaceX launches a new crew to the space station to replace NASA's stuck astronauts
SpaceX Stuck Astronauts

The duo's extended stay has been hardest, they said, on their families โ€” Wilmoreโ€™s wife and two daughters, and Williamsโ€™ husband and mother. Besides reuniting with them, Wilmore, a church elder, is looking forward to getting back to face-to-face ministering and Williams canโ€™t wait to walk her two Labrador retrievers.

โ€œWe appreciate all the love and support from everybody,โ€ Williams said in an interview earlier this week. โ€œThis mission has brought a little attention. Thereโ€™s goods and bads to that. But I think the good part is more and more people have been interested in what weโ€™re doingโ€ with space exploration.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Instituteโ€™s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Share This

Popular

Celebrity|Entertainment|Europe|Political

Polish leader offers actor Jesse Eisenberg military training to 'land the new James Bond role'

Polish leader offers actor Jesse Eisenberg military training to 'land the new James Bond role'
Europe|Political|World

Zelenskiy says Kyiv's troops not surrounded in Kursk, warns of new Russian troop build-up

Zelenskiy says Kyiv's troops not surrounded in Kursk, warns of new Russian troop build-up
Election|Europe|Political|World

Hungary's Orban vows fast crackdown on media, NGOs over foreign funding

Hungary's Orban vows fast crackdown on media, NGOs over foreign funding
Asia|Political|World

Massive rallies across South Korea ahead of key ruling on impeachment of Yoon

Massive rallies across South Korea ahead of key ruling on impeachment of Yoon

Political

Europe|Political|World

Starmer urges Putin to prove he is serious about peace by signing up to Ukraine ceasefire

Starmer urges Putin to prove he is serious about peace by signing up to Ukraine ceasefire
Americas|MidEast|Political|US|World

Hamas says it will only release American-Israeli hostage if truce agreement is implemented

Hamas says it will only release American-Israeli hostage if truce agreement is implemented
Business|Economy|Finance|Political|Stock Markets|US

With Trump's zigzag actions on trade, March came in like a lion and won't be going out like a lamb

With Trump's zigzag actions on trade, March came in like a lion and won't be going out like a lamb
Business|Economy|Europe|Political

EU countries draft plan to soften gas storage targets, document shows

EU countries draft plan to soften gas storage targets, document shows