Live: NASA Crew-10 enters space station, welcomed with hugs and handshakes
Sunita Williams, who is stranded with Barry Wilmore on the ISS, will return to Earth after spending nine long months in space
The NASA-SpaceX Crew-10 mission has successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) at 9.40 am IST on Sunday, March 16.
After an hour and 45 minutes, the SpaceX Crew-10 members then joined the station's Expedition 72 crew after the hatch was opened.
The Expedition 72 crew of NASA astronauts are Nick Hague, Don Petitt, Sunita Williams, and Butch Wilmore, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Aleksandr Gorbunov, Alexey Ovchinin, and Ivan Vagner.
The Crew 10 is a replacement crew, onboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, and it took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 4.33am IST on March 15.
Return of US astronauts
The successful arrival of Crew10 on ISS is a major development since it will pave the way for stranded US astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore to return home to Earth, after spending nine months in space for a mission that was to be much shorter.
Their stay in space got extended for an indefinite time after the Boeing Starliner spacecraft that took them to the ISS had developed issues. Now, they will return on SpaceX Dragon's Freedom capsule along with Crew-9 members Nick Hague (NASA) and Aleksandr Gorbunov (Roscosmos).
NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, who are part of the SpaceX Crew-10 mission, is a replacement crew.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket carrying the members of Crew-10 took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 4.33am IST on March 15.
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Live Updates
- 16 March 2025 9:40 AM GMT
Astronauts may face health challenges following their return
NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore may witness significant bodily challenges once they return to Earth.
As per media reports, they are likely to face several physical complications due to their prolonged exposure to space and a lack of gravity.
Former NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao told NewsNation Prime, that Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore might experience trouble walking once they return.
He stated that astronauts experience “baby feet” after a long period of space travel. He said that the weightlessness experienced in space causes calluses on the feet to disappear. “You basically lose the thick part of your skin,” Chiao said.
According to NASA, astronauts experience a loss of bone density and muscle atrophy, due to the lack of Earth's gravity bearing down on the body. This can lead to serious health complications if not countered through exercise and rehabilitation.
- 16 March 2025 7:40 AM GMT
Stunning view of the Rockies from space!
A stunning view of the snow-covered Rockies from the ISS and posted by NASA astronaut Nick Hague onboard the ISS before Crew-10 arrived. Photo: X| @AstroHague
- 16 March 2025 7:25 AM GMT
What will Crew-10 do?
During their mission, the Crew-10 crew will work on doing material flammability tests which will help to contribute to future spacecraft and facility designs.
They will engage with students worldwide via ham radio and use its existing hardware to test a backup lunar navigation solution.
According to NASA, astronauts themselves will also serve as test subjects, with one crew member conducting an integrated study to better understand physiological and psychological changes to the human body to provide valuable insights for future deep space missions.
- 16 March 2025 7:21 AM GMT
The four newcomers — representing the US, Japan and Russia — will spend the next few days learning the station’s ins and outs from Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams.
Then Wilmore and Williams will strap into their own SpaceX capsule later this week, one that has been up there since last year, to finally bring the curtains down on an unexpected extended mission that began last June.
- 16 March 2025 7:13 AM GMT
Watch SpaceX Crew10 members enter the space station and the excitement unfold:
- 16 March 2025 7:08 AM GMT
Sunita Williams says, Thank you Houston!
The hatch of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft opened on March 16 at 11.05 am IST and the members of Crew-10 entered the space station with the rest of their excited Expedition 72 crew.
The video shows Butch Wilmore opening the space station's hatch and then ringing the ship's bell as the newly-arrived astronauts floated in one by one and were greeted with hugs and handshakes. Sunita Williams smiled as she snapped photos of her crewmates during the docking.
"It was a wonderful day. Great to see our friends arrive,” Williams told Mission Control.
Both crews embraced each other as the new team made their way through the hatch. “Houston, thank you for tuning in this early morning,” Williams said.
“It was a wonderful day. Thank you so much,” she added.
- 16 March 2025 5:45 AM GMT
Hatch opening is scheduled approximately at 1:42 a.m. EDT on March 16; welcoming remarks by the Crew-10 crew and farewell remarks by the Crew-9 crew are scheduled at 2:17 a.m. EDT
