Stuck NASA astronauts head back to Earth after 9 months in space

Two astronauts who have been stuck at the International Space Station (ISS) for more than nine months are headed back to Earth.

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams left aboard a SpaceX capsule alongside two other astronauts.

The capsule undocked on Tuesday morning and aimed for a splashdown off the Florida coast by early evening EST time, weather permitting.

The two were expected to be gone just a week or so after launching onboard Boeing’s new Starliner crew capsule on June 5.

So many problems cropped up on the way to the space station that NASA eventually sent Starliner back empty and transferred the test pilots to SpaceX, pushing their homecoming into February. Then SpaceX capsule issues added another month’s delay.

Sunday’s arrival of their relief crew meant Wilmore and Williams could finally leave. NASA cut them loose a little early, given the iffy weather forecast later this week.

They checked out with NASA's Nick Hague and Russia’s Alexander Gorbunov, who arrived in their own SpaceX capsule last fall with two empty seats reserved for the Starliner duo.

"We'll miss you, but have a great journey home," NASA's Anne McClain called out from the space station as the capsule pulled away 418 km above the Pacific.

Their plight captured the world’s attention, giving new meaning to the phrase “stuck at work".

While other astronauts had logged longer spaceflights over the decades, none had to deal with so much uncertainty or see the length of their mission expand by so much.