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.

NASA's stuck astronauts are heading home now that a replacement crew has arrived at the International Space Station.

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will strap into their own SpaceX capsule later this week to close out an unexpected extended mission that began last June.