NASA crew reaches orbit on mission to replace stuck astronauts
The liftoff would allow NASA’s Sunita Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore to return home as soon as Wednesday.
SpaceX on Friday evening launched a crew to replace NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore, whose unexpected nine-month stay on the International Space Station has become one of the biggest dramas the space agency has faced in years.
The company’s Falcom 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lifted off into clear skies at 7:03 p.m. from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The launch of the next rotation of astronauts to the orbiting laboratory was initially scheduled for Wednesday evening, but it was called off because an issue with one of the clamps that hold the rocket down.
SpaceX and NASA resolved the problem and were able to proceed to fly what’s known as Crew-10, which comprises Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi and Russia’s Kirill Peskov.They are expected to reach the space station at about 11:30 p.m. Saturday.
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