NASA and SpaceX have postponed the Crew-10 mission launch to the International Space Station due to a hydraulic system issue with the ground support equipment. The delay further extends the stay of astronauts, including Sunita Williams, who have been in space for nine months. The new launch attempt is scheduled for 17th March, pending weather conditions at splashdown locations off Florida's coast.
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00:00The world may be moving on but remember there are two senior astronauts still
00:04stuck in space and it's going to be almost one year. The SpaceX launch has
00:10been scrubbed due to a hydraulic system ground issue. It was a March 13, Crew 10
00:15launch. The Crew 9 mission with NASA astronauts Nick Higgs, Sunita Williams
00:19and Butch Wilmore along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Gordonov would
00:25depart the space station no earlier than 9 a.m. Now this will be on 17th
00:29March Monday. There's been of course pending weather at the splashdown
00:33locations of the coast of Florida. This basically means that the return of
00:37Sunita Williams and the team has been further delayed. NASA has postponed the
00:42SpaceX Crew 10 launch and the return will now be possibly postponed for
00:48further days. Remember this mission was supposed to be barely for eight days
00:52went to 18 and it's going to be a year now. My colleague Shivani Sharma is
00:57tracking all the latest on that. Just take us through the details because just
01:03a few days ago I remember there was this announcement that they're set to return
01:08to Earth and be reunited with the family. What's the delay now about?
01:13Pooja see this is a very crucial mission and especially after the delay in the
01:19Crew 9 which is meant to replace by the Crew 10. So certainly NASA doesn't want to
01:24take any risk, any chances and now when they've detected a flaw they are
01:29postponing this particular mission and NASA and SpaceX they have delayed this
01:35launch which was going to happen on Wednesday and now it will happen on 17th
01:41as you were also speaking about it. So NASA astronauts Anne Macklin and Nicole
01:46they are from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Sakura Onishi and
01:54some more team members they were to leave for this particular mission but
01:59now it has got delayed and it will be further attempted on 17th of March. So
02:04they don't want to take any chances Pooja has seen and that's why they want to be
02:08super careful and that's why when they have detected hydraulic system issue
02:14with a ground support clamp arm for a Falcon 9 rocket. It's not going to be easy
02:19remember days passing through this was a stay on with me Shivani so what was
02:24supposed to be barely a week to 10 days of mission has just it's just getting
02:28delayed indefinitely. What we have now I just want to quote from the official
02:32official website from NASA. NASA and SpaceX have scrubbed the launch attempt
02:38of the agency's Crew 10 mission to the International Space Station due to a
02:42hydraulic system issue with ground support clamp arm for the Falcon 9
02:47rocket at launch complex this is in NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Tell me this
02:52Shivani because because we've been waiting for their return we're talking
02:57about not just them stuck somewhere they are in space it's microgravity the
03:02impact on their health their body that also will start taking a toll even though
03:07of course they are senior experienced astronauts and I'm sure they they'll be
03:11able to take care of themselves. Certainly Pooja see this has been a matter of concern for not
03:18only NASA but the people who are in that related field and all the people globally
03:25too they've been worrying about the team and especially Sunita Williams who's
03:29been stuck for a very long time now her delay her return has already been
03:33delayed by several months and now whenever the attempts are being made
03:37NASA is taking all care and they are also trying to help or support Sunita
03:44Williams and other crew members stuck out there to have a good health or
03:49whatever can be done from here to help them out because it's already a delay of
03:54a good time so now once again when NASA is trying to relaunch another crew to
04:01help them out to bring them back they want to be careful without any mistakes
04:05and flaws this is another attempt that is going to be delayed with the this
04:10particular hydraulic issue that has been detected now by NASA. They've been stuck
04:15in the space remember for nine months now after they went in the Boeing Star
04:19Liner which eventually they could not return in that and return remember is
04:24not just to bring them back when you come into gravity in into Earth's
04:28surface there are a lot of challenges that need to be taken care of and all
04:34whether it's NASA it's SpaceX they want to be very sure that the astronauts
04:40experienced senior ones will be brought back safely let's just hope it happens
04:44soon nine months what was supposed to be nine days of a mission for now these are
04:50the latest visuals they had been they've been sharing consistently to say that
04:54at the ISS which is the International Space Station they've been doing fairly
04:58well and are even enjoying some of the festivals but please understand it's not
05:03going to be easy they are in microgravity after all. So we have these latest news and
05:10Shivani I want to stay on this let's just go back nine months because I
05:14remember when they were sent it was there was so much curiosity about the
05:19kind of experiment that they were they were going to be a part of and because
05:22they were senior astronauts they had the experience they had done similar missions
05:28before but to even think that perhaps they also realize that it is an
05:34experiment of a kind but nine days stretching to nine months
05:42alright Shivani continues to be with us I'll go back to her in just a short
05:45while remember we are not yet clear when the next launch opportunity will be
05:50they are aiming it for next week they are aiming it for 17th March but for now
05:54the reason for the scrub suggests that SpaceX and NASA could try to launch
05:57again in the coming days a hydraulic system is basically used to control one
06:03of the two clamps that hold on to the upper portion of the rocket it sits
06:06vertically on the ground pad before launch so Shivani if you can hear me
06:11tell us more about the nine months of the of the wait that that we have been
06:16hearing I remember she consistently sends out videos saying look we are
06:21doing fairly well we are celebrating festivals but you can also see the
06:25changes on their face the impact on their body so while they may be taking
06:32care of themselves I think the scientists on the ground realize that
06:35eventually it's time bound to
06:39certainly Pooja whenever a mission of this particular scale takes place the
06:46results are unexpected when the mission is going to land back on earth is
06:50unexpected and that's why we think that these astronauts they are trained in
06:54that manner when they go on that mission they have all these preparations
06:58done to return maybe not on the expected date but yes certainly this has been the
07:04longest mission that has been stuck for nine months delayed by nine months Pooja
07:10and that's why we've been seeing consequences we've been seeing
07:13significant impact on the health of Sunita Williams as and when she's been
07:17sending out those videos so she always looks brave she always tries to look
07:23happy and safe assured that she'll be coming back soon but yes this is a
07:30concern this is a worry for astronauts across the world for NASA for people
07:35related to this particular mission that happened to be one of the very important
07:39and a very crucial mission of NASA and now Sunita Williams is expected to be
07:45back in a few more weeks perhaps this particular mission that wants to be
07:50launched today has got delayed due to a hydraulic issue that was detected just
07:56before the launch and the best of the scientists the best of the astronauts
08:00across the world have teamed up for this particular crew 10 launch Pooja and very
08:06soon we'll be seeing that they depart from here and bring Sunita Williams back