A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket soared into the night sky late Friday, carrying a fresh team of astronauts to the International Space Station and finally setting the stage for NASA veterans Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to end their nine-month odyssey in orbit after a glitch-plagued mission turned routine plans upside down.

The Crew-10 mission lifted off at 7:03 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A, propelling the Dragon spacecraft with NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan's Takuya Onishi from JAXA, and Russia's Kirill Peskov from Roscosmos. The multinational group, bound for a standard six-month stint aboard the ISS, is slated to dock around 11:30 p.m. EDT Saturday, overlapping with the current crew for handover briefings on station operations and ongoing experiments.

For Wilmore and Williams, the arrival can't come soon enough. The pair rocketed to the ISS on June 5, 2024, aboard Boeing's Starliner for what was billed as an eight-to-ten-day test flight to certify the new capsule for crewed missions. But helium leaks in the propulsion system and faulty thrusters raised safety red flags, prompting NASA to return the Starliner empty in September 2024 while keeping the astronauts on board. Their stay stretched through troubleshooting, crew rotations, and even a U.S. presidential transition, with the duo contributing to over 300 science experiments, spacewalks, and maintenance tasks during the extended time.

The return journey for Wilmore, 62, and Williams, 59 – both retired Navy test pilots with deep space experience – will hitch a ride on the Crew-9 Dragon capsule alongside NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. Undocking is targeted for early Wednesday, followed by a 17-hour reentry and splashdown off Florida's Gulf Coast around 6 p.m. EDT. Recovery teams from SpaceX and NASA will be on hand with the support ship Megan to extract the crew from the ocean.

NASA's decision to integrate the pair into the regular rotation schedule avoided a special rescue mission, a move program manager Steve Stich defended as practical given SpaceX's reliable track record. Yet the saga drew political heat: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk claimed on X in recent months that an earlier return option was rebuffed for "political reasons," though NASA officials, including Stich, countered that no such proposal was formally offered and that accelerating a flight wouldn't align with safety protocols. Boeing, facing scrutiny over Starliner's woes, has poured resources into fixes for future flights, with NASA still eyeing the capsule as a key part of its dual-provider strategy alongside SpaceX.

Crew-10 commander McClain, a veteran of two prior ISS missions, expressed excitement during pre-launch remarks about continuing the legacy of international cooperation. "We're building on the hard work of Butch and Suni," she said, noting the handover will cover everything from 3D-printed medical tools – a project Wilmore advanced – to station upkeep amid growing research demands.

As the Dragon approaches the ISS, the focus shifts to a seamless transition, ensuring the orbiting outpost's 24/7 operations hum along. For Wilmore and Williams, the homecoming marks the end of an unplanned chapter, but one that NASA says yielded invaluable data for human spaceflight's next era, from Artemis lunar returns to deep-space ambitions.