The Crew-10 mission is soaring toward the ISS, with a team of astronauts from NASA, JAXA, and Roscosmos. Their spacecraft will dock after a 28.5-hour journey, propelled by the Falcon 9 rocket’s immense power.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission launched at 7:03 p.m. EDT on March 14 from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Aboard the spacecraft are NASA astronauts Anne McClain, serving as commander, and Nichole Ayers, the mission’s pilot. They are joined by mission specialists Takuya Onishi from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Kirill Peskov from Roscosmos. As SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket ascend, the crew is experiencing 2 g of force while the vehicle rapidly progresses through key launch milestones.
The spacecraft is set to autonomously dock with the International Space Station (ISS) at 11:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday, March 15, completing a 28.5-hour journey while traveling at 17,000 mph in Earth’s orbit.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission roars off the pad at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 14, 2025. The Dragon spacecraft carrying NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, along with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov lifted off at 7:03 p.m. EDT. Credit: NASA
Next, Falcon 9’s first stage fired its nine Merlin engines, consuming one million pounds of propellant in just three minutes.
Later, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft reached orbit, and the nosecone opened. The crew will spend roughly the next 28.5 hours to rendezvous and dock to the International Space Station.
Upon reaching the orbiting laboratory, the newly arrived crew will join NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9, who will familiarize them with ongoing science and station maintenance work, which supports a safe transition of operations aboard the space station. Following a brief handover and pending weather conditions, Crew-9 NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will board a SpaceX spacecraft, undock from station, and splashdown off the coast of Florida.
Crew-10 marks SpaceX’s 10th crew rotation mission to the International Space Station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. It is also the company’s 11th crewed flight overall, including the Demo-2 test mission.
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1 Comment
You gotta wonder about Musk and his acolytes, touting these rockets as technological “progress”. Their Dragon capsule still splashes down into the ocean like they used to 60 years ago.
Yet mere 15 years ago, American astronauts used to disembark from their Space Shuttles on the runway – on their feet. Go figure.