Spacex launches astronauts to exchange a long -awaited international space station crew

Spacex launched four people in space on Friday, as they started a task that gives the international space station enough crew to allow Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to return to Earth after their stay for nine months.

The mission, known as Crew-10, will witness that the SpaceX spacecraft with the International Space Station (ISS) will witness late Saturday. New astronauts will interfere with the current crew for a few days before Williams and Wilmmore (alongside two others) returned to our planet. This can happen as soon as March 19, if the weather allows.

The launch of the Crew Spacex to ISS has become routine, but this task was very expected because of how Williams and Wilmmore arrived at the station in the first place – and because Elon Musk CEO of Spacex blaming their long stay in former President Joe Biden.

The duo was part of the first launch of the Starlener spacecraft in Boeing last June. The test mission was supposed to be a decisive milestone in Boeing’s pursuit of competition with Spacex for these types of launch operations that were destroyed to ISS.

Starliner was supposed to establish the International Space Station for 10 days before William and Wilmmore returned to Earth. But spacecraft witnessed leakage and strengthening problems, which delayed Starliner from the atmosphere with ISS.

Ultimately, Starliner was associated with the station and astronauts were able to climb. But Boeing and NASA spent weeks in testing and analyzing before them He decided in August To return Starliner to the ground empty.

NASA and Spacex agreed to return astronauts home in the next mission to ISS, Crew-9. They shocked astronauts from that trip to accommodate Williams and Wilmmore. The return trip was determined in February 2025; The previous trip had left ISS terms, according to NASA.

While Williams and Wilmmore were on board ISS, though, Musk ended with the help of Donald Trump to elect them for the second time, and started it The agitation through the federal government with a government ministry. Musk started saying – both on x and in the interviews – it is It offered to return astronauts Earlier, but this is Biden rejected political reasons.

Musk did not provide any evidence to support this claim. The former official in NASA and the deputy official under Biden both of them He said This is no offer from Musk has reached the headquarters of the Space Agency.