SpaceX arranges crew-swap mission for NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, sending them back to Earth
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The stage is set for an international team of astronauts to embark on a mission to the International Space Station (ISS), marking the conclusion of an astounding voyage for NASA's Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who will finally return home following an extended and contentious travel stint.
The Crew-10 expedition, conducted in collaboration between NASA and SpaceX, is scheduled for liftoff on March 12, 9:48 p.m. ET at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A SpaceX Dragon capsule, launched atop one of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets, will transport the four Crew-10 astronauts: NASA's Nichole Ayers and Anne McClain, Takuya Onishi with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov to their orbital destination.
Upon reaching the ISS, Ayers, McClain, Onishi, and Peskov will spend several days adjusting to the space lab during a handover period with the Crew-9 astronauts—Williams, Wilmore, NASA's Nick Hague, and Roscosmos' Aleksandr Gorbunov. Once the transition is complete, the Crew-9 team, including Williams and Wilmore, will make their descend back to Earth.
Williams and Wilmore initially took off for the ISS in June 2022 as part of the first crewed test flight of Boeing's Starliner capsule. They anticipated a weeklong mission; however, numerous technical glitches detected during their journey, including helium leaks and propulsion issues, forced NASA to deem the Starliner unfit for a return trip with astronauts aboard.
Despite Crew-10 being part of standard ISS staff rotation missions managed by NASA and SpaceX, the flight has become a hot topic of public scrutiny involving claims made by President Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk—now a top presidential advisor—about former President Joe Biden's administration.
Though NASA announced plans in August (before the 2024 election or Trump's presidency) to bring Williams and Wilmore back to Earth on a SpaceX vehicle, Musk has repeatedly asserted that Trump's administration had rejected an earlier offer from SpaceX to bring the astronauts home sooner for supposed "political reasons."
Musk has yet to specify the details of the proposal or whom it was directed towards.
An extended journey in space
A former high-ranking NASA official told CNN that SpaceX never communicated such an offer to the agency's leadership—and it's likely that NASA would not have accepted the idea due to the substantial financial repercussions.
If Musk had proposed the idea to someone outside NASA leadership, the source added, "I'm sure they would have responded and said, 'Well, that would cost us several $100 million extra that we don't have for a new Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 (rocket).'"
During an August 2024 press conference, Steve Stich, the program manager for NASA's Commercial Crew Program, informed reporters that the agency "never considered that option"—referring to the idea of launching a separate SpaceX mission to retrieve Williams and Wilmore instead of bringing them back on a pre-arranged flight.
"It just didn't make sense to go ahead and accelerate a (SpaceX) flight to return Butch and Suni earlier," Stich said.
However, Musk has claimed in interviews and social media posts that he presented the proposition to and was denied by the Biden White House—though it remains unclear why he did not approach mission organizers at NASA with the proposal. A former White House staffer did not respond to a request for comment.
When NASA broke the shocking news in August 2024 that the Starliner would return empty, Williams and Wilmore were reassigned to a SpaceX crew mission. As a result, the pair joined the official ISS crew and Crew-9, which launched in September with two vacant seats reserved for Williams and Wilmore.
Although Crew-9 was initially scheduled to return as early as February, NASA stated in December that the mission would be delayed until late March due to issues with a new Crew Dragon capsule SpaceX was preparing for the Crew-10 astronauts.
Last month, NASA announced that SpaceX would advance the Crew-10 launch date by several weeks, opting to employ a previously flown Crew Dragon capsule for the mission.
NASA has emphasized the importance of sending the Crew-10 team to the ISS and completing the days-long handover process before Williams, Wilmore, and the rest of the Crew-9 astronauts return to Earth.
Williams and Wilmore's Testimonials
The decision to keep Williams and Wilmore on the ISS rather than launching an emergency mission to bring them back was made due to NASA's efforts to maintain a fully-staffed space station. The veteran astronauts were able to assist in daily activities on the orbiting lab, as they had been trained for such contingencies before their Starliner test flight.
NASA aims to maintain at least four representatives from the US and its partner countries on board the laboratory at all times.
For their part, Williams and Wilmore have repeatedly expressed their enjoyment of space travel.
"This is my happy place," Williams stated in September. "I love being up here in space. It's just exciting. Every day you perform a task that's considered work—quote unquote—you can do it upside down, you can do it sideways, so it adds a little different perspective."
They also aimed to dispel accusations that they were purposely left behind by the previous administration.
"That's been the narrative from day one: stranded, abandoned, stuck—and we both get it," Wilmore said last month in response to Musk's and Trump's comments about the mission. "Help us change the narrative, let's change it to: prepared and committed despite what you've been hearing. That's what we prefer."
Despite Wilmore's attempts to quell speculation about Musk's claims regarding an earlier offer to return the astronauts, he added fuel to the debate during a news conference conducted from the space station on March 4.
"I can only say that Mr. Musk, what he says is absolutely factual," Wilmore said.
However, he also admitted, "We have no information on that, though. What was offered, what was not offered, who was offered to, how that process went—that's information we simply don't have."
- After experiencing an extended stay in space due to technical issues with the Starliner, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, despite public scrutiny involving claims from President Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, will finally return to Earth as part of the Crew-9 team.
- In the realm of routine ISS staff rotation missions managed by NASA and SpaceX, astronauts Nichole Ayers, Anne McClain, Takuya Onishi, and Kirill Peskov, along with SpaceX's reusable Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket, will be added to the scientific exploration of the ISS, with Wilmore and Williams passing on their duties.
- To avoid any unnecessary financial implications for NASA, it is likely that an earlier offer from SpaceX to return Williams and Wilmore to Earth, as supposedly claimed by Elon Musk, would not have been accepted, given the substantial cost associated with a new Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket.
