Sunita Williams Nears Return as NASA and SpaceX Prepare to Launch Crew-10 Mission

NASA and billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX successfully launched the Crew-10 mission on Friday (local time) to retrieve stranded astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore.

The Falcon 9 rocket, carrying a Dragon spacecraft for the Crew-10 mission, lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

Have a great time in space, y’all!
#Crew10 lifted off from @NASAKennedy at 7:03pm ET (2303 UTC) on Friday, March 14. pic.twitter.com/9Vf7VVeGev

— NASA (@NASA) March 14, 2025

NASA’s veteran astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore were stranded aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in June last year after the Boeing Starliner spacecraft they were testing on its maiden crewed flight encountered propulsion issues and was deemed unfit to return them to Earth.

According to NASA, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket propelled the Dragon spacecraft into orbit, carrying four astronauts: Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.

During a Q&A session on X, hours before the mission launch, NASA stated that after Crew-10 docks with the ISS on Saturday, March 15, Crew-9’s Nick Hague, Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Aleksandr Gorbunov are scheduled to return to Earth a few days later.

What began as a technical failure has also become a political flashpoint, as President Donald Trump and his close advisor, Elon Musk—who leads SpaceX—have repeatedly suggested that former President Joe Biden “abandoned” the pair intentionally and rejected a plan to bring them back sooner.

This accusation caused uproar in the space community, especially since Musk did not provide any specifics.

The plan for the duo’s return has remained unchanged since they were reassigned to SpaceX’s Crew-9, which arrived in September aboard another Dragon spacecraft carrying only two crew members—instead of the usual four—to make room for Wilmore and Williams.

When Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen pointed this out on X, Musk lashed out at him, using a slur for mentally disabled people.

Some retired astronauts rushed to Mogensen’s defense, while Wilmore appeared to back Musk, saying his comments must have been “factual,” though he admitted he was not privy to any details.

Meanwhile, Trump has drawn attention for his bizarre remarks about the situation, referring to Williams, a decorated former naval captain, as “the woman with the wild hair” and speculating about the personal dynamic between the two.

(With input from AFP)