Two astronauts who have spent nine months stranded on the International Space Station will finally come home as a replacement crew docks.
Suni Williams and Butch Willmore travelled to the ISS in June last year on an eight-day mission, but a technical issue on their Boeing space craft prevented them from returning to earth.
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Overnight, a Space X capsule docked at the station to deliver four new astronauts and provide a way home for Williams and Wilmore.
The pair will help get the four newcomers ready before they depart the ISS on Wednesday night our time.
They’ll splash down in waters off Florida before being helicoptered back to land to be reunited with their families after nine long months.
Most long-term space missions are 6 months at most, the longest being 437 days.
When the pair return, their reconditioning is similar to the intense physiotherapy experienced after a coma.
The lack of gravity causes significant, and irreparable, bone density loss. It also causes muscles to waste in your arms, legs, trunk and the heart.
They’ll also struggle to walk, get dizzy easily, and have bad eyesight.
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