The Nasa-SpaceX Crew-10 mission to the ISS was pushed back by Nasa since astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore needed to return to Earth following an extended mission duration. Wilmore and Williams, who have been staying at the space station, need another crew team to arrive before they can return to Earth after their nine-month astronaut mission.
Nasa Kennedy Space Center technical staff discovered essential hydraulic system concerns about four hours before Falcon rocket launch was scheduled to begin at night. Launch technicians inspected the hydraulic system that controls rocket supporting arm release seconds before launch time took place during the pre-launch countdown.
Although ground-based hydraulic systems encountered difficulties according to Derrol Nail who reported both rockets and spacecraft systems performed without any issues to the media provider AFP.
With launch time approaching within an hour the astronauts in the capsule entered a period of hanging suspension while technicians made their announcement before liftoff completed.
The planned launch schedule was cancelled by SpacEx at that point. Beginning on Thursday evening the firm planned to conduct another launch attempt but did not reply to questions about precise timing.
Following their arrival at the space station several international astronauts led by the Americans and Japanese and Russians will take over responsibilities from those two astronauts who launched in June. The test pilots spent extended periods on board due to crucial problems that developed with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft during flight.
Command of Crew-10 passes to Anne McClain who has Nichole Ayers operating as the primary pilot. The JAXA representative Takuya Onishi joins Roscosmos member Kirill Peskov on this mission. Though Ayers and Peskov embark on their spaceflight for the first time together, McClain arrives for her second mission along with Onishi.
The guest crews stationed at the space facility stay temporarily to complete their mission meetings. The ship carrying Williams and Wilmore together with Hague and Gorbunov from Nasa will depart for their home flight four days after Crew-10 launches.
The execution of their mission remains delayed because hazardous weather conditions affect Florida’s coastline where they need to land. The flight crew members of Crew-10 must conduct departure procedures for their predecessors Crew-9 after docking at the space station.
