The National Aeronautics Space Agency (Nasa) and SpaceX have announced plans to launch their Crew-10 mission to bring back Sunita Williams and fellow-astronaut Butch Wilmore, on Friday at 7:03 pm EDT (Saturday, 4:30 am India time), news agency Reuters reported.

The announcement came just 24 hours after SpaceX scrubbed the launch of the Crew-10 mission from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida that would have initiated Williams and Wilmore's long-awaited return to Earth.

The duo, who had reached the International Space Station (ISS) for an eight-day stay, have been stuck in space for nine months after a trip on Boeing's faulty Starliner.

The launch was called off in the early hours of Friday due to a technical issue with a ground support clamp arm for the Falcon 9 rocket. Nasa had then announced that the next available launch opportunity was no earlier than Saturday, pending a review of the issue.

If the Crew-10 mission launches successfully this time, Williams and Wilmore are expected to depart the ISS after March 20.

The Crew-10 mission will bring a new team of astronauts to the ISS, including Nasa's Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japanese space agency Jaxa's Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos's Kirill Peskov.

Despite the delays, Nasa has emphasised that the health and safety of astronauts remains its top priority. The space station is well-stocked, ensuring that the crew has all the necessary resources to continue their work safely.

Earlier, the US space agency had moved up the mission by two weeks after President Donald Trump and his adviser Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, called for Wilmore and Williams to be brought back earlier than Nasa had planned.

A planned eight-day stay on the orbiting station has dragged on for Wilmore and Williams, a pair of veteran astronauts and US Navy test pilots. Starliner returned to Earth without them last year.

Source: India Today