India, March 15 -- The National Aeronautics Space Agency (Nasa) and SpaceX have stated that they would begin their Crew-10 mission to retrieve Sunita Williams and colleague astronaut Butch Wilmore on Friday at 7:03 pm EDT (Saturday, 4:30 am India time).

Shortly after SpaceX cancelled the Crew-10 mission launch from Florida's Kennedy Space Centre, which would have started Williams and Wilmore's eagerly anticipated journey down to Earth, the announcement was made.

The two had been stranded in space for nine months following a journey on Boeing's malfunctioning Starliner. They had arrived to the ISS for an eight-day visit.

A mechanical problem with one of the Falcon 9 rocket's ground support clamp arms forced the cancellation of the launc...