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NASAhas launch its Crew-10 deputation , bringing sculptural relief to the U.S. astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams — who ’ve been stuck aboard theInternational Space Station(ISS ) for the last nine months — and finally allowing them to return to Earth .

The Falcon 9 rocket launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:04 p.m. EDT on Friday ( March 14 ) , as part of a everyday ISS staff rotation .

The Crew-10 Dragon capsule rests atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket ahead of launch.

The Crew-10 Dragon capsule rests atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket ahead of launch.

ride aboard its top - rise Dragon capsule are four spaceman : NASA ’s Nichole Ayers and Anne McClain , Roscosmos astronaut Kirill Peskov and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ’s Takuya Onishi . If everything goes to program , the capsule will dock at the ISS at 11:30 p.m. EDT Saturday ( March 15 ) .

Wilmore and Williams arrived at the ISS as part of Boeing ’s first Starliner Crew Test Flight . Starliner nail off on itsinaugural crew mental testing flightfrom Florida ’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on June 5 , 2024 . But not long after embark orbital cavity , a turn of issues prune up — including fivehelium leaksand five failures of its response control system ( RCS ) thruster .

concern : NASA offers SpaceX $ 843 million to destroy the International Space Station

A SpaceX crew Dragon capsule bobs in the ocean off Florida after reentering Earth�s atmosphere

This caused the missionary post , originally slated to last as few as eight days , to tangle on for more than two months before NASAannounced its abandonmenton Aug. 24 . The Starliner capsuleundocked from the ISS on Sep. 6 , returning to Earth without a crew .

While await the Crew-10 rotation , Wilmore and Williams have been performing a number of maintenance tasks and participate in scientific projects .

Their hitch has been largely secure but not entirely without incident . On June 27 , a defunct Russian satellitebroke apart in domain , sending detritus toward the ISS and forcing Williams and Wilmore , along with the other seven astronaut on board , to take cover inside their several space abridgment .

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams aboard the ISS in August 2024.

— NASA set up to launch 2 rockets into the northern light

— China discover strange glass pearl on moon that may hold back billions of tons of water

— NASA offer SpaceX $ 843 million to destroy the International Space Station

A photo of an astronaut floating outside of the ISS

Tonight ’s launching is the third effort to found the Crew-10 mission , the first on Wednesday ( March 12 ) being scour after a hydraulic organisation issue and the next on Thursday ( March 13 ) being ground by high-pitched winds and hurriedness across the rocket ’s flight of steps path , according to NASA .

" We came up prepared to stay long , even though we planned to stay curt , " Wilmore said during a news league beamed back from the ISS on March 4 . " That ’s what we do cold spacefaring . That ’s what your nation ’s human spaceflight computer programme ’s all about — design for unknown , unexpected contingence . And we did that . "

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NASA astronauts Suni Williams (left) and Butch Wilmore talk about voting from the International Space Station.

Sunita Williams waves as she�s carried onto a stretcher after returning from orbit aboard a SpaceX crew Dragon capsule

a head-on photograph of the X-37B space plane on a runway at night

An artist�s illustration of a satellite crashing back to Earth.

An illustration of a satellite crashing into the ocean after an uncontrolled reentry through Earth�s atmosphere

The space balloon

a map showing where the Soviet satellite may fall

An illustration of a burning satellite hurdling back into Earth�s atmosphere

An artist�s illustration of a fireball entering the Earth�s atmosphere at sunset.

Circular alignment of stones in the center of an image full of stones

Three-dimensional rendering of an HIV virus

a photo of the Milky Way reflecting off of an alpine lake at night

an illustration of Mars

three prepackaged sandwiches

Tunnel view of Yosemite National Park.