Stranded Astronauts Will Have To Stay On ISS A Little Longer After Replacement Crew's Launch Is Scrubbed

Poor Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita Williams — the astronauts who have been stuck up on the International Space Station since June due to issues with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft — will have to stay up there and float around for at least a couple more days.

On Wednesday night, NASA decided to scrub a planned launch from Cape Canaveral that would've sent a replacement crew to the ISS and would allow Wilmore and Williams to finally return to Earth 9 months after their mission — which was only supposed to last a little over a week — began.

According to CBS News, Crew-10 — comprised of commander Anne McClain, pilot Nichole Ayers, astronaut Takuya Onishi of Japan, and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov — were strapped into their SpaceX Dragon capsule and ready to go while crews worked to deal with a hydraulic issue facing one of the clamps that holds the Falcon 9 rocket that the capsule sits on top of in place.

Hydraulics pull the clamps away so that the rocket can lift off, and while it appeared that everything was working, they weren't entirely sure if the clamp in question would retract all the way, so they did the right thing and played it safe.

 NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi, and cosmonaut Kirill Peskov wave on their way to the launch pad, however their trip to space has been delayed following a scrubbed launch. (Photo by Aubrey Gemignani/NASA via Getty Images)

However, as an astronaut, this has to be the worst thing ever (next to getting stranded in space for 9 months). Sure, you're appreciative that the people strapping you to a rocket are playing it safe, but imagine getting yourself all ready to go only for someone to hop on the radio and say, "Yeah… this isn't happening tonight," and then you have to do it all over again.

Fortunately, it shouldn't be too long before Crew-10 is on its way into orbit. While NASA and SpaceX have dismissed a launch window on Thursday night due to potential high winds, there's another window on Friday.

Once Crew-10 gets to the ISS, they will receive a briefing from Crew-9 astronauts aboard the space station. Now Commander Nick Hague, cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov, Wilmore, and Wilson are expected to unlock from the station on March 19 and begin their return to Earth.

Despite this launch being scrubbed on Wednesday, SpaceX did successfully launch another Falcon 9 rocket which carried 21 Starlink satellites into space.