They were sent to the International Space Station in June for what was expected to be an eight-day test mission.
Astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore returned to Earth on Tuesday after being stuck in the International Space Station for more than nine months.
Nick Hague, a fellow astronaut from the United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov also arrived back on Earth along with them.
Williams and Wilmore were sent to the International Space Station aboard Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule on June 5 for what was planned to be an eight-day test mission.
However, several problems arose with the propulsion system of the capsule, which forced NASA to fold them into its crew rotation schedule and return them on a SpaceX craft.
As a result, Williams and Wilmore spent 286 days in space instead of the eight days that had been planned.
Hague and Gorbunov were launched to the space station in September with two empty seats on their capsule reserved for Williams and Wilmore.
