Hague and Gorbunov arrived at the station in late September, on SpaceX's Crew-9 mission. Williams and Wilmore have been in orbit since early June, when they launched on the first crewed mission of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft.

A spacecraft carrying the replacements for NASA’s two stuck astronauts docked at the International Space Station on Sunday, paving the way for the pair’s return after nine long months.