NASA removed two astronauts from its Crew-9 mission to allow for Williams and Wilmore to join the cohort, and return onboard the SpaceX Dragon − which carries four people at a time. The altered Crew-9 − only Hague and Gorbunov − launched aboard the SpaceX Dragon Freedom in late September.

NASA and SpaceX have targeted Crew-9’s splashdown aboard the Crew Dragon Freedom. The crew departed the International Space Station at 1:05 a.m. ET Tues., with an expected splashdown return on Tues., March 18. A deorbit burn, which will begin the crew’s descent back to earth, is scheduled for about 5:11 p.m. EDT.