NASA announced on 17 December 2024 that the two astronauts, Barry E. Wilmore and Sunita Williams, stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) will have to stay there for longer. This is because the rescue Dragon-2 capsule for the SpaceX Crew-10 flight, has been delayed. The astronauts have been stuck at the ISS following safety concerns about the space capsule they flew there ( which returned to Earth without them ). The Boeing Starliner performed its first crewed mission but left its crew stranded.
Stranded Starliner crew to wait until March 2024
According to NASA, SpaceX's Crew-10 is now targeting a launch date no earlier than March 2025 (the capsule is set to arrive at the processing facility in Florida in early January). Crew-10 had been expected to launch in February 2025 but has been delayed to provide more time for final testing and integration of the new spacecraft.
Photo: Keegan Barber | NASA
""Fabrication, assembly, testing, and final integration of a new spacecraft is a painstaking endeavor that requires great attention to detail. We 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's readiness for flight." - Steve Stich, manager, NASA's Commercial Crew Program
After Crew-10 docks, NASA astronauts, Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will return to Earth with it (those astronauts are from the Crew-9 mission, and the Boeing Starliner).
Photo: USSF Crew-10 the last new Dragon-2 cargo capsule
Crew-10 is expected to carry four crew members on its maiden flight. Those astronauts are US astronaut Anne McClain as commander, US astronaut Nichole Ayers as the pilot, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi as mission specialist 1, and Russian astronaut Kirill Peskov as mission specialist 2. These four astronauts represent, NASA, Japan's JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), and Roscosmos (the Russian space agency).
Crew-10 is a new Dragon space capsule (they are reusable) and it's set to be the tenth operational NASA Commercial Crew Program flight and the 17th crewed orbital flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft. It is expected to also be the last new cargo Dragon spacecraft (although SpaceX has recently decided to build one more crewed spacecraft).
So far, 12 Dragon 2 space capsules have been built (including six crewed, three cargo, and three prototypes). Of these eight remain operational (one was lost during an uncrewed test). They are used to ferry astronauts to the ISS and for private spaceflight missions.
Image: SpaceX
Dragon 2 capsules are launched on Falcon 9 Block 5 rockets and are the delayed replacement for the Space Shuttle (which was retired in 2011). The Boeing Starliner is meant to join it in its role if and when NASA certifies it (there is currently discussion that Boeing may be seeking to divest of its Starliner and focus on its core business ).
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Meanwhile, SpaceX is developing its Starship - a fully reusable super heavy-lift launch vehicle. The Starship spacecraft is designed to transport crew and cargo into Earth orbit, the Moon, and even Mars. It will also be able to travel point-to-point anywhere on Earth in less than an hour.
Photo: SpaceX
Separately, NASA is working on its Artemis program to return people to the moon - this time to stay and develop a permanent lunar colony. NASA has just pushed back the dates for the Artemis II and Artemis III missions due to heat shield safety concerns .
Boeing has delivered the Space Launch System (SLS) booster rocket for the Orion CM-003 space capsule for Artemis II (which is expected to take astronauts on the first lunar flyby mission in 2026 since the end of the Apollo program). In 2027, Artemis III is expected to land people on the moon using the SpaceX Starship. Later missions will establish a lunar gateway and a lunar colony. SpaceX has plans to push on to Mars (although the timetable is unclear).