SpaceX launched its Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on March 14, a mission initially scheduled for February but delayed due to technical issues. The launch, from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A at 7:03 p.m. Eastern, saw the Crew Dragon spacecraft Endurance carrying four astronauts: NASA astronauts Anne McClain (commander) and Nichole Ayers (pilot), JAXA's Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.
During separation from the Falcon 9 upper stage, a piece of insulation from the liquid oxygen tank was observed floating away. SpaceX’s Sarah Walker confirmed it was non-hazardous, stating, “It’s a foam material that did its job on the way to orbit, and then it’s okay if it liberates.” The crew is expected to dock with the ISS around 11:30 p.m. Eastern on March 15.
The mission faced several setbacks. A battery issue with a new Crew Dragon prompted a switch to the Endurance spacecraft, a decision that caused additional work due to degradation on one of the Draco thrusters. Successful testing resolved this concern. A hydraulics problem also delayed launch by a day.
The Crew-10 launch has been embroiled in political controversy. Claims by Elon Musk of political motivations behind extending the stay of NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, aboard the Boeing CST-100 Starliner since June, have been addressed. NASA and SpaceX officials denied these claims during a March 7 briefing, emphasizing programmatic and technical reasons for the scheduling decisions. Bill Gerstenmaier stated regarding the new Crew Dragon battery issues, “It turns out the batteries are not easy to get out. It took a lot of capsule disassembly to get the battery out.” Steve Stich explained the Crew-10 schedule: “We really wanted to get this mission flown before the Soyuz and before we had this critical resupply mission.” Ken Bowersox added, “I can verify that Steve had been talking about how we might need to juggle the flights and switch capsules, you know, a good month before there was any discussion outside of NASA, but the President’s interest sure added energy to the conversation.”
The arrival of Crew-10 will initiate a four-day handover before the departure of Crew-9, including astronauts who have had an unexpectedly extended stay on the ISS.