India, March 20 -- Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, NASA astronauts part of the Crew-9 mission, returned to Earth aboard SpaceX's Dragon Freedom on Tuesday after a nine-month overstay at the International Space Station (ISS). Their presence in space and safe return caught global attention as the short mission was turned into a months-long ordeal.

Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore travelled to the ISS in June last year for a scheduled eight-day mission. They were forced to stay as the Boeing Starliner capsule developed issues with its propulsion system during its maiden test flight. The faulty capsule returned to Earth last September.

'Butch and Suni' were accompanied by astronauts Nick Hague and Aleksandr Grebyonkin, who reached the I...