(Nexstar) – Released on SpaceX Dragon’s “Go.” This will transport a team of astronauts to the International Space Station on Wednesday to ultimately ease Butchwillmore and Snee Williams, who have been stuck in space since June last year.
The launch of the SpaceX Crew-10 mission is scheduled for 7:48pm ET from NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The final preparations are streamed and released on the video player above.
The crew includes two NASA astronauts, Commander Ann McLain and pilot Nicole Ayers. Mission specialists from Jaxa (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), Onishiakuya and Roscosmos Cosmonaut Kirill Peskov will also be on board.
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Wilmore and Williams had expected it to be just a week or so when it launched last June with Boeing’s new Starliner capsule. The Starliner had so many problems reaching the space station that NASA decided it was too dangerous for anyone to carry, and it returned to the sky.
Their return was further delayed by the extra completion time required for the new SpaceX capsule, which was supposed to provide replacements.
Wilmore and Williams have been claiming that they are healthy and committed to missions with retired Navy captains and repetitive space flyers for months. They took a spaceship together in January.
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They wear a typical SpaceX flight suit for riding, rather than the usual custom-made outfits with their name, as their trip back to Dragon Capsule was unplanned. Wilmore suggested that he might use a pen to write his name on his suit, but that’s fine for them.
“We’re just Butch and Suni,” Williams said.
Once Crew 10 arrives in space, they will go through a handover period on Crew 9 missions. The handover is expected to last about a week. NASA astronauts Wilmore and Williams are then joined by Nick Hague (NASA) and Alexander Golbunov of Los Cosmos, returning to SpaceX Dragon Earth.
The official “Go” comes after NASA and SpaceX finish their prep reviews on Tuesday. The weather looks good Wednesday, with a “95% or higher chance” of a favorable condition at lift-off, according to NASA.
The new crew’s scientific mission is expected to last for about four months.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
