National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on February 11 2025, announced it will use a previously flown SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule for the Crew10 mission instead of a new one. This change will update Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore to return to Earth earlier than expected.
The launch, originally planned for March 25, will now take place on March 12, depending on readiness and the completion of safety checks. This change comes as NASA speeds up the schedule for its crew rotation missions to the International Space Station (ISS).
The Crew-9 mission will return after handing over to the new Crew-10 team. NASA decided to use the "Endurance" Crew Dragon capsule, which has already flown before. The decision was made because production of a new capsule was delayed. The team will now prepare the capsule, which includes tasks like adding propellant and moving it to SpaceX's hangar in Florida to be attached to a Falcon 9 rocket.
Williams and Wilmore had traveled to the ISS on Boeing's Starliner capsule in June 2024. However, the capsule had some technical issues, including a helium leak. Since then, Sunita Williams has been in charge of the ISS. Their return depends on the Crew-10 team’s arrival, which will help maintain staffing at the space station.
Crew-10 includes NASA astronauts Anne McClain (commander) and Nichole Ayers (pilot), JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.
This change follows a request from President Donald Trump, who asked SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to bring the astronauts back as soon as possible. Although NASA had already planned their return, it confirmed it would bring them home "as soon as practical."
NASA's Steve Stich said, "Human spaceflight is full of unexpected challenges," but praised NASA’s partnership with SpaceX for being flexible enough to adapt quickly.
After the Crew-9 mission, Crew-10 will assist with ongoing station work, and preparations for the astronauts’ return will continue, weather permitting, at the splashdown sites off Florida.
The change will take effect SpaceX to complete the new spacecrafts interior carry out and build integration activities at its final stage together launching the Crew10 and returning Crew-9 at the earliest.