Orbit longer: Another delay for Sunita Williams as SpaceX adjusts rocket launch schedule

A SpaceX crew launch that would return US astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams home from the International Space Station was postponed on Wednesday as the replacement astronaut crew waited to embark. The planned SpaceX rocket launch from Florida initially intended to transport new astronauts to the International Space Station would have initiated the return journey of astronauts Wilmore and Williams who remained in space after the Starliner spacecraft malfunctioned during their mission.

Starliner spacecraft malfunctioned during their mission

A SpaceX crew launch that would return US astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams home from the International Space Station was postponed on Wednesday as the replacement astronaut crew waited to embark. The planned SpaceX rocket launch from Florida initially intended to transport new astronauts to the International Space Station would have initiated the return journey of astronauts Wilmore and Williams who remained in space after the Starliner spacecraft malfunctioned during their mission.

SpaceX's rocket was due to launch from the Kennedy Space Center

SpaceX's rocket was due to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral at 7:48 p.m. ET (2348 GMT) with a two-person crew of US astronauts and a Japanese astronaut and a Russian astronaut. Wilmore and Williams have been conducting research and maintenance with the other astronauts on the space station and have been safe, Nasa said. Williams said in a March 4 press call that she is excited to see her family and pet dogs when she gets home.
"It's been a roller coaster for them, likely a little bit more so than us," Williams said of her family. "We're here, we have a mission - we're just doing what we do every day, and every day is interesting because we're up in space, and it's a lot of fun." The flight, designated Crew-10, would under ordinary circumstances be a routine astronaut swap.

President Joe Biden for the slow return of Wilmore and Williams

Instead, it became politicized as Trump and Musk have tried - without presenting evidence - to place blame on former President Joe Biden for the slow return of Wilmore and Williams. The calls by Trump and Musk for an earlier return were a rare intervention in Nasa's human spaceflight activities. The mission had originally had a target date of March 26, but Nasa replaced a delayed SpaceX capsule with another one that would be available sooner.