Hegseth shares message to SpaceX rescue mission crew: ‘Wish you Godspeed’

SpaceX and NASA scrubbed the planned rocket launch of Crew-10 to the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday due to a hydraulic issue with one of the ground systems, according to officials giving a live broadcast of the event.

NASA and SpaceX will get their next opportunity to send the rocket into space when the launch window opens on Thursday at 7:25 p.m.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shared a message of support for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 ahead of their launch on Wednesday, highlighting the U.S. military’s prominent role in the mission.

“I just want to take a brief moment to say we are praying for you,” Hegseth said in a video posted to X. “We wish you Godspeed, and we look forward to welcoming you all home soon.” 

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NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 is slated to launch from the Kennedy Space Center at 7:48 p.m. on Wednesday. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will carry a crew of four to the ISS for a six-month residency. The mission is set to usher in the much-anticipated homecoming of Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams.

“President Trump said to Elon Musk, ‘get the astronauts home and do it now’ – and they’re responding,” Hegseth continued. “And they’re bringing NASA astronauts, [who] also happen to be retired U.S. Navy Capt. Butch Wilmore and retired U.S. Navy Capt. Suni Williams, home.”

The American astronauts have been stranded on the ISS for nine months after arriving there in June of last year. They were only supposed to stay for about a week. 

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft had transported the pair of astronauts from Earth to the ISS. However, it returned to Earth unmanned in September. This came after Starliner suffered “helium leaks” and “issues with the spacecraft reaction control thrusters” while docking with the ISS. 

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“Now, the Department of Defense is also proud to have multiple branches and two active-duty U.S. military officers represented in the mission that’s kicking off tonight between NASA and SpaceX. Yet, U.S. Army Colonel Anne McClain and U.S. Air Force Major Nichole Ayers,” Hegseth said. “So this is Army, Air Force and Navy tonight.”

In addition to McClain and Ayers, Crew-10 also includes an astronaut from Japan and one from Russia. 

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Wednesday’s launch comes after President Donald Trump asked SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to rescue the stranded astronauts sooner than NASA had planned.

Trump has repeatedly said former President Joe Biden “abandoned” them in space.

Musk definitively told FOX Business’ Larry Kudlow earlier in the week: “We’re gonna get ’em back.”

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NASA said there will be a “handover period” with the SpaceX Crew-10 before Wilmore and Williams head back to their home planet. They could return to Earth as early as Sunday.

Last week, Trump shared a special message for Wilmore and Williams.

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“Elon [Musk] is right now preparing a ship to go up and get them,” the president told Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy. “We love you, and we’re coming up to get you, and you shouldn’t have been up there so long.”

FOX Business’ Aislinn Murphy contributed to this report.