Four astronauts will fly to the ISS aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The spacecraft will return with astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams, whose weeklong trip last June turned into a 9-month debacle.
SpaceX’s Crew-10 is set to launch into space to bring home two NASA astronauts who have been stuck at the International Space Station (ISS) since June 6.
The crew of four geared up in the “suit-up room” amid photos of the Apollo crew, before driving to the launchpad in multiple Teslas adorned with “LIF10FF” license plates — an ode to the mission number.
Each astronaut received a medical check before being briefed by SpaceX and NASA. Later, they partook in various traditions, including a card game to eliminate any bad luck.
SpaceX Crew-10 astronauts prepare in the suit-up room on Friday. (NASA / Fox News)
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The launch to rescue Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams was initially planned for Wednesday, but a hydraulic ground issue halted the mission just minutes before takeoff.
NASA livestreamers said there was a 95% chance of favorable weather conditions Friday afternoon, the same probability announced by SpaceX on Wednesday prior to the previous delay.
Streamers seemed optimistic about the probability of the impending launch, citing only minor concerns about cumulus clouds.
SpaceX Crew-10 astronauts play cards before launch on Friday. (NASA / Fox News)
SpaceX will launch its Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket just after 7 p.m. Friday from the U.S. space agency’s Kennedy Space Center, in collaboration with NASA.
Commander Anne McClain, pilot Nichole Ayers, mission specialist Takuya Onishi, and mission specialist Kirill Peskov will replace SpaceX’s Crew-9, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksanr Gorbuno, who arrived in space in late September.
SpaceX Crew-10 astronauts prepare to launch to the ISS on Friday. (NASA / Fox News)
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They also aim to rescue Wilmore and Williams — who were only slated to be at the ISS for about a week in June before an issue emerged with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which returned to Earth unmanned in September.
Hague, Wilmore and Williams have completed more than 900 hours of research during their time on the ISS, NASA announced late last week.
NASA astronauts Suni Williams, left, and Butch Wilmore. ( Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
In August, NASA said the additional time the stranded astronauts would spend at the station enabled it and Boeing to “continue to gather testing data on Starliner during its upcoming flight home, while also not accepting more risk than necessary for its crew.”
The Starliner had “helium leaks” and “issues with the spacecraft reaction control thrusters” while docking with the ISS in June, according to previous reporting.
The International Space Station (ISS) photographed by Expedition 56 crew members from a Soyuz spacecraft after undocking, Oct. 4, 2018. (NASA/Roscosmos/Handout via Reuters, File / Reuters)
A “handover period” will take place with Crew-10 before Wilmore, Williams, Hague and Gorbunov leave the ISS, NASA reported.
They will return to Earth, in another SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, as soon as Sunday, according to officials.
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While in space, Crew-10 will “perform research, technology demonstrations, and maintenance activities aboard the microgravity laboratory,” NASA said.
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Friday’s launch will be Dragon’s tenth operational human spaceflight mission.
The nearly 27-foot-tall spacecraft was built with room for up to seven passengers.
Fox News Digital’s Aislinn Murphy contributed to this report.
