NASA removed two astronauts from its Crew-9 mission to allow for Williams and Wilmore to join the cohort, and return onboard the SpaceX Dragon − which carries four people at a time. The altered Crew-9 − only Hague and Gorbunov − launched aboard the SpaceX Dragon Freedom in late September.

The SpaceX capsule tasked with bringing back two NASA astronauts that have spent months on the International Space Station (ISS) after thruster issues following the launch of Boeing’s Starliner mission last year have returned to Earth.

The pair of NASA astronauts who have been in space for over nine months returned to Earth on Tuesday after a new crew to replace them reached the ISS over the weekend.