After spending more than nine months stranded aboard the International Space Station (ISS), NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are finally preparing for their return to Earth. Their long-awaited departure comes after a new replacement crew successfully docked with the ISS early Sunday.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule arrived at 05:45 GMT, carrying the Crew-10 team. Live footage showed a warm reunion, as Wilmore and Williams embraced their new colleagues in zero gravity. "It’s a wonderful day," Williams said, expressing relief and joy at their arrival.

The duo was originally supposed to return after a short test flight of Boeing’s Starliner, but a propulsion failure left the spacecraft unable to bring them home. NASA later returned the Starliner to Earth without passengers, forcing Wilmore and Williams to extend their mission far beyond the usual six-month ISS rotation.

Though their unexpected stay did not break spaceflight records—Frank Rubio holds the U.S. record at 371 days, and Russia’s Valeri Polyakov spent 437 days aboard Mir—it captured worldwide attention. Since they hadn’t packed for such an extended mission, NASA had to send extra supplies, including clothing and personal care items.

Now, Wilmore and Williams will prepare for their journey home, set for no earlier than March 19, with an ocean splashdown off the Florida coast. They will be joined by NASA’s Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov on the returning Dragon capsule.

Meanwhile, the Crew-10 team, consisting of NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi, and Russia’s Kirill Peskov, will conduct a range of scientific experiments, including flammability tests for future spacecraft and research on space’s effects on the human body.

After spending more than nine months stranded aboard the International Space Station (ISS), NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are finally preparing for their return to Earth. Their long-awaited departure comes after a new replacement crew successfully docked with the ISS early Sunday.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule arrived at 05:45 GMT, carrying the Crew-10 team. Live footage showed a warm reunion, as Wilmore and Williams embraced their new colleagues in zero gravity. "It’s a wonderful day," Williams said, expressing relief and joy at their arrival.

The duo was originally supposed to return after a short test flight of Boeing’s Starliner, but a propulsion failure left the spacecraft unable to bring them home. NASA later returned the Starliner to Earth without passengers, forcing Wilmore and Williams to extend their mission far beyond the usual six-month ISS rotation.

Though their unexpected stay did not break spaceflight records—Frank Rubio holds the U.S. record at 371 days, and Russia’s Valeri Polyakov spent 437 days aboard Mir—it captured worldwide attention. Since they hadn’t packed for such an extended mission, NASA had to send extra supplies, including clothing and personal care items.

Now, Wilmore and Williams will prepare for their journey home, set for no earlier than March 19, with an ocean splashdown off the Florida coast. They will be joined by NASA’s Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov on the returning Dragon capsule.

Meanwhile, the Crew-10 team, consisting of NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi, and Russia’s Kirill Peskov, will conduct a range of scientific experiments, including flammability tests for future spacecraft and research on space’s effects on the human body.