Dhaka, March 15 -- NASA and SpaceX on Friday launched a long-awaited crew to the International Space Station that opens the door to bringing home US astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have been stuck on the orbital lab for nine months.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 7:03 pm (local time) (2303 GMT) from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying four astronauts who will replace Wilmore and Williams, both of whom are veteran NASA astronauts and retired Navy test pilots and were the first to fly Boeing's faulty Starliner capsule to the ISS in June.

Otherwise a routine crew rotation flight, Friday's Crew-10 mission is a long-awaited first step to bring the astronaut duo back to Earth - part of a plan set by NASA la...