Falcon 9 Successfully Launches, Giving Hope for the Return of Two Stranded Astronauts | WPN World People News

NASA and SpaceX successfully launched the Crew-10 mission on the evening of the 14th local time, sending four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of a routine mission. However, what drew significant attention was the potential return home of astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have been stranded on the ISS for over nine months.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:03 PM on the 14th, carrying four astronauts: Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers from the United States, Kirill Peskov from Russia, and Takuya Onishi from Japan.

The Crew-10 mission was originally scheduled for launch on the evening of the 12th but was postponed at the last minute—about 45 minutes before liftoff—due to a hydraulic system anomaly. With the successful launch now completed, Wilmore and Williams are expected to leave the ISS and return to Earth on the 19th.

Wilmore and Williams arrived at the ISS in June last year aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. However, due to propulsion system issues during the flight, NASA decided to keep the two astronauts on the ISS for their safety. The Starliner spacecraft, meanwhile, returned to Earth unmanned in September last year.