The return of NASA astronauts who were supposed to spend eight days in space but have been stranded for more than nine months has been delayed again, NASA said on Wednesday.
There was a technical problem on the launch pad of a SpaceX rocket that was supposed to send a team to replace NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who are stranded on the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX announced that the launch scheduled from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre has been postponed after the problem occurred.
A problem reportedly arose with the hydraulic system of the launch vehicle’s rocket carrier at the launch pad. Crew members were already on board when the decision was made to cancel the launch.
The next opportunity to send the rocket into space will be on Thursday.
The Falcon 9 rocket is expected to carry a four-person crew to the ISS for a six-month mission: NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nicole Ayers, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.
Wilmore and Williams, who are on the ISS, along with two other ISS crew members NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov will head home on the SpaceX Dragon capsule that arrived at the space station last September.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump said he had instructed Elon Musk to bring the astronauts home.
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which delivered Wilmore and Williams to the ISS in June last year, returned to earth in September 2024 without a crew due to a “helium leak” and “control engine problems” that failed after docking with the ISS.
SpaceX’s 120-metre-tall Starship mega rocket was reported to have exploded during its eighth test flight.
