Washington, United States:
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, March 14, at 7:03 pm EDT (4:33 am IST on March 15). Aboard the Dragon spacecraft are four astronauts – NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi and Russia’s Kirill Peskov – on their way to the International Space Station (ISS) for a long-duration research expedition.
The crew is expected to dock autonomously at the station’s Harmony module on March 15 at around 11:30 pm EDT (9 am IST on Sunday, March 16). Once aboard, they will integrate with Expedition 72/73 for an extended stay in orbit, contributing to scientific research and station operations.
The four crew members of NASA’s Crew-10 mission:
Anne McClain (NASA, USA)
A seasoned astronaut and US Army colonel, this is Anne McClain’s second mission to space. She was first selected as a NASA astronaut in 2013 and has a military aviation background. McClain holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the US Military Academy at West Point and multiple master’s degrees in Aerospace Engineering, International Security and Strategic Studies.
She has logged over 2,000 flight hours in 20 different aircraft types. Her previous mission, Expeditions 58 and 59, lasted 204 days, during which she completed two spacewalks. Since then, she has served in leadership roles within NASA’s astronaut office.
Nichole Ayers (NASA, USA)
This is her debut spaceflight. Nichole Ayers was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2021. A major in the US Air Force, she is the first member of her astronaut class to receive a flight assignment.
Ms Ayers earned a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics with a minor in Russian from the US Air Force Academy and later obtained a master’s in Computational and Applied Mathematics from Rice University. A skilled pilot, she has flown the T-38 ADAIR and F-22 Raptor, logging more than 1,400 flight hours, including over 200 hours in combat.
Takuya Onishi (JAXA, Japan)
Representing the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Takuya Onishi is on his second mission. Selected as an astronaut in 2009, he earlier served as a flight engineer during Expeditions 48 and 49, spending 113 days aboard the ISS.
Mr Onishi captured and integrated the Cygnus spacecraft and set up new research environments in the Kibo laboratory module. Before joining JAXA, he was a pilot for All Nippon Airways, accumulating more than 3,700 flight hours on the Boeing 767.
Kirill Peskov (Roscosmos, Russia)
This is Kirill Peskov’s first journey to space. Selected as a cosmonaut in 2018, he has expertise in aviation and engineering.
Mr Peskov earned an engineering degree from the Ulyanovsk Civil Aviation School and earlier served as a co-pilot on Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft for Russian airlines Nordwind and Ikar. In 2020, he was designated as a test cosmonaut, undergoing training on skydiving, zero-gravity simulations and survival exercises.
Sunita Williams and Crew-9’s return
On reaching the ISS, the Crew-10 team will coordinate with NASA’s Crew-9 astronauts for a smooth handover of responsibilities. Crew-9 members, including NASA astronauts Sunita Williams, Nick Hague and Butch Wilmore, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, are set to return to Earth aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.
Williams and Wilmore had originally planned for a 10-day mission in June 2024, but due to technical delays, their stay extended to nearly 10 months.