(Multimedia) NASA, SpaceX plan to launch new crewed mission to ISS in March – Xinhua

Wednesday 18th December 2024 02:21 AM

Photo taken June 5, 2024 shows NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore (left) and Suni Williams introducing themselves before boarding Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft at the Cape Canaveral Launch Station in Florida, United States. (Joel Kowsky/NASA/Handout via Xinhua)

NASA and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than the end of March 2025 to launch a new crewed mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) — NASA and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than the end of March 2025 to launch a new crewed mission to the International Space Station (ISS), NASA said Tuesday.

The new mission, codenamed Crew-10, will send NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov to the ISS.

The agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will return to Earth after Crew-10 arrives at the orbiting laboratory, according to NASA.

Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have been stuck in space since June due to technical problems with the Boeing Starliner that took them to the ISS.

NASA’s previous schedule called for their return next February. But the new schedule announced Tuesday means the two astronauts will stay in space for at least another month.■