Last night, SpaceX attempted to launch its Crew-10 mission from LC-39A; however, it ran into a snag about 40 minutes before liftoff, scrubbing the launch. NASA and SpaceX will reattempt to launch the international crew of four on Friday, March 14 at 7:03 P.M. ET.
Hydraulic issue causes scrub
The rocket, weather, and crew were all ready to launch last night; however, a part of the transporter erector was not. The “TE,” as it’s called, is used to support the rocket both during transport to and from SpaceX’s horizontal integration facility and then vertically at the launch pad.
The scrub was called due to one of the TE’s clamp arms being unable to open. This is important as, without the clamps opening, the rocket would likely strike it as it lifted off.
Post-scrub, the crew exited the Crew Dragon spacecraft and returned to crew quarters at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, where the launch was taking place.
The issue was apparently known four hours before launch; however, SpaceX believed it could have fixed the issue before the count reached a critical point. This is common for SpaceX launches, accepting issues but not making the final call until it is absolutely necessary to scrub the launch. We’ve seen this mostly with weather, where SpaceX will continue the count until there is a brief opening of good weather or reports show a 0% chance of acceptable conditions.
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Crew-10 members walk out for launch ahead of mission’s scrub. Image: Steven Madow / Space ExploredCrew-10 might be one of the most talked-about SpaceX crewed missions since Inspiration4 or the first crewed flight, DM-2. This is due to the crew members it is relieving on the ISS, former Starliner CFT astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore.
The two’s extended stay on the orbiting laboratory has been overhyped and politicized in recent weeks by President Donald Trump and top donor and aide Elon Musk. Their claims that the previous administration purposely “stranded” the two astronauts for political reasons.
The facts are that there have been no credible reports showing the decision ever made it past the NASA Administrator, and the crew was never left without a safe way home in the case of an emergency. Furthermore, Butch and Suni’s extended stay saved taxpayers’ money and allowed the ISS to operate as a functional research lab, versus having the crew bogged down by maintenance duties if they would have left on an earlier flight.
SpaceX to try again on Friday
With the scrub in place, NASA and SpaceX were looking to try again Thursday night. However, poor weather forced them to push the launch back to Friday. This gives SpaceX an extra day to make the fix to its TE’s clamp arm and Crew-10 an extra day to rest and prepare for its launch.
Weather is expected to be better Friday evening, but no statements have shared specifics on Friday’s weather report.
