The Starliner crew was originally meant to stay on board the ISS for a week, but issues with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft severely delayed their return to Earth.

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.

SpaceX delivered a four-person crew to the International Space Station early Sunday, setting the stage for Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams to depart.