The two astronauts trapped on the International Space Station are on their way back to Earth

After more than nine months aboard the International Space Station (ISS), the two astronauts trapped in space finally departed for Earth Tuesday, ending a protracted mission that has garnered worldwide attention.

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule undocked from the ISS at 1 a.m. ET Tuesday, according to images transmitted by NASA, with the two astronauts aboard.

Butch Wilmore, 62, and Suni Williams, 59, arrived at the orbiting laboratory in June 2024 on the first manned flight of Boeing's Starliner, a round trip that was to last just eight days.

However, the spacecraft developed propulsion problems and NASA decided to return it unmanned to Earth.

A new crew with two NASA astronauts, Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers; one Japanese, Takuya Onishi; and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, departed Friday from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and arrived Sunday at the ISS.

Crew relief, with the arrival of the so-called Crew 10, allowed Wilmore and Williams to depart for Earth along with U.S. Nick Hague and Russian Aleksandr Gorbunov.

After a loud greeting with the crew members remaining on the ISS, the quartet entered the capsule and closed its hatch at 11:05 p.m. ET Monday before undocking two hours later.

If there are no mishaps, the Dragon capsule will deploy its parachutes off the coast of Florida this Tuesday and make a splashdown around 5:57 p.m. ET, then receive assistance from a ship that will recover the crew.