Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams left the International Space Station after nine months in space, checking out with two other astronauts. Their SpaceX capsule parachuted into the Gulf of Mexico in the early evening,

The NASA astronauts splashed down on Tuesday in a SpaceX capsule after problems with a Boeing vehicle set in motion a nine-month stay on the International Space Station.

The US astronauts stranded on the International Space Station are home at last — more than nine months after their days-long jaunt into orbit turned into a headline-grabbing space odyssey.