SpaceX is close to conducting its first crew launch in six months. The spaceflight company is targeting Wednesday, March 12, for the launch of Crew-10 from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The Crew Dragon spacecraft will carry NASA astronauts Anne McClain, commander; and Nichole Ayers, pilot; along with mission specialists JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov to the International Space Station (ISS), where they’ll live and work for around four months.
This is the 10th crew rotation mission and the 11th human spaceflight mission for NASA to the space station supported by the Crew Dragon spacecraft since 2020 as part of the space agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
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How to watch
SpaceX is targeting 7:48 p.m. ET on Wednesday, March 12, for the launch of Crew-10 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
You can watch it on NASA’s website or on SpaceX’s X account.
If you want to watch the buildup, NASA coverage starts at 3:45 p.m. ET.
What to expect
Viewers who tune in early will see the astronauts heading out to the rocket and taking their seats inside the Crew Dragon. They’ll also get to witness the Falcon 9 rocket powering the crew-filled capsule to orbit, with the launch streamed from multiple angles using cameras both on the ground, attached to the rocket, and inside the capsule.
The crew is expected to dock with the ISS at around 10 a.m. ET on Thursday, March 13. NASA will also live stream this part of the mission, as well as the moment the crew enter the space station at around 11:45 a.m. ET.
As with any mission, the schedule could change. We’ll keep this article updated with any alterations to the current plan.
NASA and SpaceX last launched astronauts to the ISS in September 2024 with the Crew-9 mission. The flight carried two crew members instead of the usual four as two seats needed to be kept for Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who flew to the ISS on the Starliner spacecraft last year but ended up staying way longer than expected due to issues with the Starliner, which had to return to Earth empty. Wilmore and Williams are expected to return to Earth in the coming weeks.
