NASA’s Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have returned to Earth from a weeklong mission at the International Space Station that turned into an unexpectedly extended stay.

Williams and Wilmore were wheeled off the spacecraft on stretchers, a standard practice for NASA astronauts, according to E! News. The protocol is due to the change in gravity, especially for Williams and Wilmore, who have been away for nine months.

On June 5, 2024, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams embarked on a brief mission to the International Space Station. But equipment failures turned what was supposed to be an eight-day trip into a grueling 9-month spaceflight.