ASTRONAUTS WHO HAVE been stuck in space for months are on their return journey to Earth after crews at the International Space Station were swapped in recent days.

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have spent the last two days teaching four astronauts from US, Japan and Russia the ins and outs of the station after spending nine months longer than expected on their mission.

Wilmore and Williams expected to be in space for a week, but Nasa insisted it pulled the plug on their return after the Boeing Starliner capsule encountered so many problems, and sent it back empty.

SpaceX were contracted to bring them home and its capsule, following long delays due to extensive battery repairs, finally undocked from the International Space Station at 5.05am this morning, slightly sooner than expected.

The pair will splash down off of Florida’s coast, in the US, at around 6pm this evening.

They're on their way! #Crew9 undocked from the @Space_Station at 1:05am ET (0505 UTC). Reentry and splashdown coverage begins on X, YouTube, and NASA+ at 4:45pm ET (2145 UTC) this evening. pic.twitter.com/W3jcoEdjDG

— NASA (@NASA) March 18, 2025

Wilmore and Williams quickly transitioned from guests to full-fledged station crew members, conducting experiments, fixing equipment and even spacewalking together.  Both retired Navy captains stressed they didn’t mind spending more time in space.

But they acknowledged it was tough on their families as Wilmore, 62, missed most of his younger daughter’s senior year of high school while Williams, 59, had to settle for internet calls from space to her mother.

With 62 hours over nine spacewalks, Williams set a new record: the most time spent spacewalking over a career among female astronauts. Both had lived on the orbiting lab before and brushed up on their station training before rocketing away.

Includes reporting by Press Association