KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — NASA and SpaceX are getting set to launch the four-member Crew-10 mission on Wednesday night to the International Space Station.

The mission is part of the next step in returning the Starliner crew.

Countdown to launch

NASA astronauts Cmdr. Anne McClain and pilot Nichole Ayers, mission specialists Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov will climb onboard the SpaceX Dragon capsule called the Endurance, stated both NASA and SpaceX.

The instantaneous launch is set to take place at 7:48 p.m. ET at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

In fact, according to NASA, this is the 200th launch from Launch Complex 39A.

The 45th Weather Squadron is giving about a 95% chance of good liftoff conditions with no primary concerns for the launch.

If there is a scrub, the next attempt is Thursday at 7:26 p.m. ET.

Speeding into the black

This is the first crewed launch of 2025 and the Endurance will be screaming at 17,500 mph (28,164 kph) as it goes into the black.

The Endurance has flown the previous NASA missions:

• Crew-3 in 2021
• Crew-5 in 2022
• Crew-7 in 2023

The Falcon 9 first-stage booster for this mission, B1090, is still very new and this is its second launch.

Its first launch was the O3b mPOWER 7 & 8 mission.

Snce the Crew-10 mission will have four people onboard, the first-stage booster will land on Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

That means people throughout the surrounding counties will hear the crack of a sonic boom.

The Crew-10 foursome should dock with the space station at around 6 a.m. ET on Thursday. And they will stay there until July 2025.

About the Crew-10 mission and the crew

Crew-10 members will be busy little beavers as they conduct more than 200 scientific experiments and technology demonstrations.

Some of them include:

• Research to prepare for human exploration beyond low Earth-orbit and benefit humanity on Earth
  
  
• Material flammability tests for future spacecraft designs
  
  
• Engage with students via ham radio and use its existing hardware to test a backup lunar navigation solution
  
  
• Participate in an integrated study to better understand physiological and psychological changes to the human body to provide valuable insights for future deep space missions

Three out of the four crew members are old pros who have been to space before, but for Ayers, this will be her first time.

Pilot Nichole Ayers

Cmdr. Anne McClain

Mission specialist JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi

Mission specialist Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov

The Crew-10 members will be onboard the International Space Station as part of Expedition 72. An expedition means the current crew in the International Space Station.

The Crew-9 and Crew-10 crews will be together for a few days before the Crew-9’s Freedom Dragon capsule will undock from the International Space Station’s Harmony module a few days later.

The Crew-9 will splashdown off the coast of Florida.

Helping Starliner to get home

For Crew-9 members, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will come home with Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Cmdr. Barry "Butch" Wilmore and pilot Sunita "Suni" Williams.

NASA astronauts Wilmore and Williams were expected to spend about eight days on the International Space Station in June during the maiden flight of Boeing’s Starliner capsule.

However, before, during and after its launch, the Starliner experienced prolonged problems such as helium leaks and thruster issues.

Scroll down to see the timeline of the Starliner saga.

The stay on the floating space laboratory morphed into a 9-month-long stay with their ride — named Calypso — returning home empty earlier in September after NASA deemed it unsafe.

President Donald Trump stated he asked SpaceX CEO Elon Musk — who is heading the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency, or better known as DOGE — to bring the pair home earlier.

In the media, Williams and Wilmore were stated to be “stranded” on the space station, even though they were always a way home for them.

It was Spectrum News that confirmed with NASA that it was considering another option of bringing home Wilmore and Williams — SpaceX’s Dragon capsule.

Both the Boeing Starliner and Crew-10 missions are part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which was formed to work with American aerospace companies to build spacecraft and rockets to send technology and astronauts from U.S. soil to space.

Starliner timeline