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.

Astronaut and Massachusetts native Sunita L. Williams is another step closer to returning to Earth. Williams, a native of Needham, and Butch Wilmore of Tennessee have been stuck on the International Space Station (ISS) since last June due to problems with their spacecraft, the Boeing's Starliner.