By Molly Goddard
2:54am PDT, Mar 14, 2025
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The SpaceX mission to rescue NASA's stranded astronauts was canceled.
The
Elon Musk-owned company's Falcon 9 rocket was set to take off to bring home
Sunita Williams and
Butch Wilmore on Wednesday, March 12. The two have been stuck on the International Space Station (ISS) since June 2024. However, mere minutes before blasting off, the trip was axed.
Join us to see what nixed the journey to return the adventurers to earth…
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The SpaceX aircraft packed with four astronauts was scheduled to blast off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:48 p.m. EST on Wednesday, March 12.
Unfortunately, less than 30 minutes before heading into the skies, a "hydraulic ground issue" caused the mission to be aborted to ensure the safety of all onboard. "We will not launch unless we know we can do so safely and reliably," a representative could be heard saying during the
SpaceX livestream of the launch via
DailyMail.com.
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The delay in the trip means Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will not make it home until Monday, March 17, at the earliest. NASA and SpaceX will meet on Thursday, March 13, to see if they can get the team into space that day or on Friday, March 14.
The astronauts awaiting take off are
Takuya Onishi from Japan and
Kirill Peskov from Russia, plus NASA's
Anne McClain and
Nichole Ayers. The group remains in
quarantine until their flight is ready to leave.
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After the team of astronauts walked off the aircraft, they were quickly taken away in matching
Teslas to return to seclusion.
Prior to the failed mission, the space enthusiasts expressed how thrilled they were to head to the International Space Station: "We are going to take a little bit of an adventure," Anne McClain told
Florida Today. "We're ready to high-five [our stranded colleagues], bring them home."
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Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore were supposed to return to the United States last year. However, according to Elon Musk, former President
Joe Biden and former Vice President
Kamala Harris declined his offer to help bring them home so as not to give credit to current President
Donald Trump.
"There's no way that they're going to make anyone who's supporting Trump look good," Musk alleged during an appearance on "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast.
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With the 2024 election in the rearview mirror, Elon Musk emphasized how SpaceX and NASA's main concern is returning Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore back to Earth
safely.
"Yes, we're bringing them back in a few weeks," the tech mogul claimed during a recent interview with
Fox Business. "We're going to get them back."
