Hague and Gorbunov rode up to the station aboard Freedom in late September, on the launch of SpaceX's Crew-9 mission. Williams and Wilmore, on the other hand, reached the ISS on the first crewed flight of Boeing's Starliner capsule, which lifted off in early June.

The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft descended under parachute from a bright blue sky, plopping into sparkling clear water off the Gulf Coast of Florida south of Tallahassee. The nine-month journey of Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams had finally come to an end.

A pod of curious dolphins showed up to greet the returning SpaceX Crew-9 astronauts shortly after they splashed down off the coast of Florida at about 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday, March 18. The four-person crew included NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who ended up staying in orbit for way longer than originally planned.