NASA and SpaceX on Friday will count down to a long-awaited crewed rocket launch that will allow them to bring home U.S. astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have been stuck on the International Space Station for nine months.

The $488 million Spherex mission aims to explain how galaxies formed and evolved over billions of years, and how the universe expanded so fast in its first moments.

NASA will livestream the launch Friday night of Crew-10, which will in part replace the Starliner astronauts at the International Space Station.

NASA and SpaceX are proceeding with plans to launch the space agency's Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station on Friday, March 14 at 7:03 p.m. EDT (2303 GMT), the U.S. agency said in a blog post on Thursday.

A launch pad problem prompted SpaceX to delay a flight to the International Space Station on Wednesday to replace NASA’s two stuck astronauts . The new crew needs to get to the International Space Station before Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams can head home after nine months in orbit.

The astronauts who crewed the Boeing Starliner will have to wait a few more days until making their homecoming after the SpaceX Crew-10 launch scrub.

The NASA and SpaceX mission is on track to launch NASA's Crew-10 mission to the Space Station Friday night at 7:03 p.m. Stranded astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore head back to Earth Wednesday.

The flight was scrubbed on Wednesday night, and the astronauts will return to the launchpad for their trip to the International Space Station.