After an unexpected nine-month stay in space, two NASA astronauts are finally heading back to Earth.

Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore departed the International Space Station (ISS) early Tuesday morning and are expected to land off the coast of Florida after a 17-hour journey. Their return was delayed after Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft—originally meant to bring them home—was deemed unsafe for reentry, prolonging their mission far beyond the planned timeline.

Who Are the Astronauts Who Were Stuck in Space?

The two stranded astronauts are Sunita "Suni" Williams, 59, and Barry "Butch" Wilmore, 62—both seasoned NASA veterans.

Williams, the current ISS commander and a retired U.S. Navy officer, joined NASA in 1998. Over her career, she has spent a total of 322 days in space and completed nine spacewalks. At one point, she held the record for most spacewalks by a female astronaut, a title later surpassed by Peggy Whitson in 2017.

Wilmore, a former U.S. Navy pilot, first traveled to space in 2009 aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis. Before this mission, he had logged 178 days in space. As a flight engineer and commander on previous ISS expeditions, he contributed to research on plant growth in space, microgravity’s impact on the human body, and Earth’s environmental changes.
On the Boeing Starliner mission, Wilmore served as the commander, while Williams took on the role of pilot.