SpaceX's Dragon Spaceship Launch Delayed Due to Technical Malfunctions and Weather Conditions​

​Prompted by US President Trump, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has advanced the "mission to bring back the American astronauts stranded on the International Space Station." However, to the disappointment of the American public, the Falcon 9 rocket of SpaceX, the company tasked with this mission, encountered problems right from the start. On the evening of March 12, local time, the mission was called off during the countdown phase.​

According to CNN, as per NASA's plan, four astronauts were scheduled to board the Crew Dragon spacecraft developed by SpaceX and lift off at 7:48 p.m. local time on March 12 to head to the International Space Station. But when the astronauts were already seated in the spacecraft and less than an hour away from the scheduled launch time, NASA announced the cancellation of the launch for that day. The reason was a malfunction in the hydraulic system of the ground support arms of the Falcon 9 rocket carrying out the launch mission.​

According to the plan previously announced by NASA, after the cancellation of the launch on the 12th, the alternative launch windows were 7:48 p.m. on March 13 and 7:03 p.m. on March 14, Eastern Time. However, NASA subsequently announced that the mission would be postponed to no earlier than March 14. The launch attempt originally scheduled for March 13 was cancelled due to forecasts of strong winds and precipitation along the spacecraft's flight path. In addition, the launch team needed to resolve the hydraulic system problem of the ground support arms of the Falcon 9 before the launch.​

The reason this launch has attracted so much attention is that it shoulders the important task of bringing back two American astronauts stranded on the International Space Station. Previously, according to the usual practice, the rotation of astronauts on the International Space Station follows the so-called "in-orbit handover" principle. That is, after a new batch of astronauts arrives at the International Space Station and completes the handover, the previous batch of astronauts leaves, ensuring that the two batches of astronauts can fully exchange information about the International Space Station, providing a better transition for continuous life and maintenance in space. Therefore, although a new Crew Dragon spacecraft docked with the International Space Station successfully on September 30 last year, Wilmore and Williams could not immediately take the spacecraft home. Instead, they needed to continue living on the International Space Station for half a year with the two astronauts on that spacecraft, waiting for the astronauts of the Crew-10 mission group on the Crew Dragon spacecraft to complete the rotation before they could return home.​

However, unexpectedly, on December 17 last year, NASA stated that the Crew Dragon spacecraft originally planned to carry out the Crew-10 mission in February 2025 was newly built and required more time to complete the integration and testing of related equipment. Therefore, its launch time was also postponed by one month and needed to be postponed to at least the end of March 2025. This also means that the two American astronauts stranded on the International Space Station need to stay in space for about 10 months. Nevertheless, NASA insists that the physical conditions of the astronauts on the International Space Station are all fine. "All American astronauts on the International Space Station are undergoing regular medical evaluations, and there are dedicated flight surgeons monitoring them. Their health conditions are good."​

Facing this situation, US President Trump announced as soon as he took office in January this year that he had asked SpaceX to bring back Wilmore and Williams from the International Space Station as soon as possible. Subsequently, SpaceX said it would abandon the plan to launch a new spacecraft and instead use a refurbished Dragon spacecraft to carry the Crew-10 mission group into space, thus advancing the launch time by about half a month.

Now, the postponement of this launch mission has put SpaceX and its CEO Elon Musk under significant pressure. Currently, according to the information released on SpaceX's official website on March 13, local time, the next launch time will be no earlier than 7:03 p.m. on March 14, Eastern Time, and another alternative launch period is 6:41 p.m. on March 15. If this launch is successful, it will send the Dragon spacecraft and four astronauts from the United States, Russia, and Japan to the International Space Station and bring back the two American astronauts who have been stranded on the space station for more than nine months. Let's continue to pay attention to the follow-up developments.