‘Stranded’ NASA astronauts finally return to Earth after spending nine months stuck in space

Wilmore and Williams expected to be in space for eight days (YouTube/NASA Video)

Williams also said that being in space made her think more about what was going on on the planet below, saying: “It opens up the door to making you think a bit differently. It’s the one planet we have and we should be taking care of it.

“There are so many people on Earth sending us messages it makes you feel right at home with everybody.”

Williams and Wilmore’s long-awaited return comes after a previous plan to head out and bring the astronauts home on March 16 had to be pushed back due to a hydraulic ground issue.

The splash landing was a success (NASA)

The four astronauts set to travel to the ISS to take the places of Wilmore and Williams were strapped into the capsule and ready to go, but SpaceX decided to cancel the mission with less than an hour to go before the intended blastoff.

Now, crews will recover the capsule from the waters while the astronauts will make their last leg of the journey towards Houston, the hub of NASA’s spaceflight operations.