Author: Elyna Niles-Carnes

NASA Adjusts Crew-10 Launch Date

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 now is targeting no earlier than late March 2025 to launch four crew members to the International Space Station.

The change gives NASA and SpaceX teams time to complete processing on a new Dragon spacecraft for the mission. The new spacecraft is set to arrive to the company’s processing facility in Florida in early January.

“Fabrication, assembly, testing, and final integration of a new spacecraft is a painstaking endeavor that requires great attention to detail,” said Steve Stich, manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. “We appreciate the hard work by the SpaceX team to expand the Dragon fleet in support of our missions and the flexibility of the station program and expedition crews as we work together to complete the new capsule’s readiness for flight.”

NASA and SpaceX assessed various options for managing the next crewed handover, including using another Dragon spacecraft and manifest adjustments. After careful consideration, the team determined that launching Crew-10 in late March, following completion of the new Dragon spacecraft, was the best option for meeting NASA’s requirements and achieving space station objectives for 2025.

NASA astronauts Anne McClain, commander, and Nichole Ayers, pilot; JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, mission specialist; and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov continue training for the Crew-10 mission at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will return to Earth following the arrival of Crew-10 to the orbital laboratory. Known as a handover period, it allows Crew-9 to share any lessons learned with the newly arrived crew and support a better transition for ongoing science and maintenance at the complex.

Crew-9, along with the full space station crew of Expedition 72, are focused on completing research aboard the microgravity laboratory, and are preparing for upcoming spacewalks. The space station recently received two resupply flights in November and is well-stocked with everything the crew needs, including food, water, clothing, and oxygen. The resupply spacecraft also carried special items for the crew to celebrate the holidays aboard the orbital platform.

Expedition 72 will end with the undocking and return of the Soyuz spacecraft carrying NASA astronaut Don Pettit. Expedition crews regularly spend long-duration missions aboard the space station, with average stays lasting about six months. Several people have supported longer missions, extending to about a year, to help the agency learn more about how humans adapt to spaceflight to prepare for missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

NASA Updates 2025 Commercial Crew Plan

Image of the International Space Station in 2021.

The International Space Station is pictured from the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour during a fly around of the orbiting lab that took place following its undocking from the Harmony module’s space-facing port on Nov. 8, 2021. Photo credit: NASA/Thomas PesquetNASA and its industry partners Boeing and SpaceX continue planning next year’s missions to the International Space Station for the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. While significant work remains to prepare for these flights, the agency expects a busy year of in-orbit activities and is planning windows of opportunity for mission teams to target, pending operational readiness and station traffic.

Crew-10
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission is targeting no earlier than February 2025. The mission will carry NASA astronauts Anne McClain, commander, and Nichole Ayers, pilot, along with mission specialists JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov to the space station to conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations. This mission will be the second spaceflight for McClain and Onishi, and the first for Ayers and Peskov.

Crew-9, which arrived at the space station on Sept. 29, carrying NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Grubonov, will return to Earth with NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore accompanying Hague and Gorbunov, following a short handover with Crew-10.

Crew-11
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 will be the second crew rotation flight of 2025 and is targeted for no earlier than July to benefit the space station needs, including accommodating resupply flights and other operations aboard the orbiting laboratory. NASA will announce the four-person crew at a later date.

Next Starliner Flight
The timing and configuration of Starliner’s next flight will be determined once a better understanding of Boeing’s path to system certification is established. This determination will include considerations for incorporating Crew Flight Test lessons learned, approvals of final certification products, and operational readiness.

Meanwhile, NASA is keeping options on the table for how best to achieve system certification, including windows of opportunity for a potential Starliner flight in 2025.

NASA will provide more information when available.

For more on NASA’s Commercial Crew Program missions to the orbiting laboratory follow the commercial crew blog and the program’s social media accounts via @commercial_crew on X and commercial crew on Facebook.