Goa, March 19 -- Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have successfully returned to Earth after an unanticipated mission at the International Space Station (ISS) that lasted over nine months. They made their landing in the waters off the coast of Florida early on Wednesday.

A SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, transporting two astronauts along with American Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, soared through the atmosphere before releasing its parachutes for a smooth landing in the waters off the Florida coast at 3:27 am IST.

In June of last year, the two astronauts traveled to the orbital lab for what was intended to be a short roundtrip to evaluate Boeing's Starliner during its inaugural crewed mission. Unfortunate...