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.

After nine months on the International Space Station, NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico on March 18.