Who Are Crew-10? New Astronauts to Replace Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore on ISS – What’s Next?

Crew-10 astronauts are set to join the International Space Station (ISS) on March 15 at 11:30 PM ET (9:00 AM IST on March 16) for a six-month mission, taking over from NASA’s Sunita Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore. The new team includes NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. They will begin a two-day handover process before fully assuming station duties.

Launched aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the Crew Dragon capsule separated from the rocket about 10 minutes into its flight and is now on its way to the ISS. With Crew-10’s arrival, the ISS will temporarily host 11 astronauts, including remaining crew members Nick Hague, Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Don Pettit, along with Roscosmos cosmonauts Aleksandr Gorbunov, Alexey Ovchinin, and Ivan Vagner.

Handover Period:
After a brief overlap, the current crew—Hague, Williams, Wilmore, and Gorbunov—will begin their journey back to Earth on March 19, provided weather conditions at the Florida splashdown sites are favorable. This overlap ensures that the departing team can transfer essential operational knowledge to the newcomers.

What’s Next for Crew-10?
While their mission is part of the routine crew rotation, the arrival of Crew-10 is especially significant as it marks the return of Wilmore and Williams, who have been on the ISS for nine months following technical issues with Boeing’s Starliner capsule. The new crew members, who come with backgrounds as military and airline pilots, are expected to carry out diverse research activities, including experiments on lunar navigation, material flammability, and the effects of space on human physiology. They are scheduled to stay aboard the ISS until later this fall, paving the way for future developments in spacecraft and station design.