NASA astronauts undocked from Space Station after 9 months -

Two NASA astronauts stuck in orbit for nine months finally departed the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX capsule on Tuesday, kicking off their long-awaited voyage home.

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, seated inside a Dragon capsule with two other crew members, undocked from the ISS at 1:05 a.m. New York time on Tuesday.

Also read: SpaceX sends crew to space ahead of stuck astronauts’ return

The capsule is expected to travel through space, plunge through the atmosphere and ultimately fall to Earth under parachutes before splashing down off the Florida coast around 6 pm local time.

After undergoing standard medical checks, the crew will board a flight to Houston, where they will be reunited with their families.

The duo arrived at the ISS last June on a Boeing Co. spacecraft with plans to spend roughly a week in space. But that brief trip turned into roughly nine months when NASA decided in August the pair would come home on a rival SpaceX capsule instead, due to technical issues with their Boeing vehicle.

US government and the return of NASA astronauts

Their saga became an international sensation, with some media outlets dubbing them the “stranded” astronauts — a nod to NASA’s reluctance to have them fly home in their original spacecraft. The ordeal put an embarrassing spotlight on Boeing’s struggling space business after the company was rocked by a series of crises that forced a change in senior leadership.

In parallel, their story has highlighted how dependent NASA has become on SpaceX to keep the agency’s major human spaceflight programs up and running.

The astronauts’ extended stay in orbit also triggered political point-scoring at the highest echelons of the US government. President Donald Trump accused former President Joe Biden’s administration of virtually abandoning them and SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk claimed that Biden’s team left them in space for political reasons.

Also read: NASA astronauts Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore gear up to leave Space Station

NASA and SpaceX representatives wouldn’t confirm Musk’s specific claim during a press conference this month. Steve Stich, NASA’s commercial crew program manager, said the agency looked at a range of options and worked with SpaceX to determine the best way to bring the astronauts home.

NASA scheduled a post-return press conference at 7:30 pm New York time on March 18 with agency and SpaceX officials to discuss the mission.

For NASA astronauts, there’s always the risk that a routine mission will last longer than planned. The agency has extended the stays of astronauts on the space station for months at a time to accommodate changes in traffic schedules or technical issues.

“We came up prepared to stay long, even though we planned to stay short,” Wilmore said during a press conference from space. “That’s what we do in human spaceflight.”