SpaceX Crew-10 Successfully Docks with International Space Station, Stranded Astronauts One Step Closer to Home
By Space Coast Daily // March 16, 2025
Stranded Astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore preparing to return to Earth
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March 16, 2025 — SpaceX’s Crew-10 mission has successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS), concluding a 28-hour orbital pursuit.
The Crew Dragon capsule, named Endurance, made contact with the ISS’s Harmony module at precisely 12:04 a.m. EDT (0404 GMT) while orbiting 260 miles (418 kilometers) above the Atlantic Ocean.
The mission launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on the evening of March 14, carried four astronauts representing three different nations.
The Crew-10 team includes NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) mission specialist Takuya Onishi, and Russian space agency Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.
“It’s such a great honor for us to be part of this program,” Onishi remarked shortly after docking.
“We have a lot of exciting work ahead of us that we are looking forward to. Again, thank you very much to everybody who helped us to get here.”
The next steps in the mission are set to unfold quickly. The hatches between Endurance and the ISS are expected to open about 90 minutes after docking, followed by a welcoming ceremony approximately 30 minutes later.
The Crew-10 team is scheduled to remain on the ISS for six months, contributing to various scientific research and station operations.
Meanwhile, the station’s current residents—Nick Hague, Oleg Gorbunov, Sunita Williams, and Barry Wilmore—are preparing to return to Earth. Hague and Gorbunov arrived in late September as part of SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission.
Williams and Wilmore have been aboard since June after an extended stay due to thruster complications with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. Initially intended for a 10-day mission, Starliner was brought back to Earth uncrewed in September, leading NASA to reassign Williams and Wilmore to long-term station duties.
NASA officials have confirmed that Crew-9’s return journey aboard their Crew Dragon spacecraft is planned no earlier than Wednesday, March 19. Their departure will mark the completion of another rotation in the ongoing partnership between NASA, SpaceX, and international space agencies in maintaining continuous human presence aboard the ISS.
Crew-10’s arrival marks another milestone in the successful collaboration of international space programs, ensuring continued advancements in space exploration and scientific discovery.
