Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have arrived back on Earth after a 17-hour journey in the four-person SpaceX Dragon Capsule.
The pair spent 286 days onboard the International Space Station (ISS) after the failure of Boeing's Starliner capsule extended their original week-long mission.
The SpaceX Dragon capsule containing Williams and Wilmore, along with their colleagues Aleksandr Gorbunov and Nick Hague, splashed down as planned off the Florida coast this morning, Australian time.
Within an hour, the astronauts were out of their capsule, waving and smiling at cameras while being hustled away in reclining stretchers for routine medical checks.
When they left Earth on Boeing's new Starliner
On Sunday, the arrival of their relief crew meant they could finally leave the ISS and NASA let them go a day early to make the most of "pristine" weather conditions at the splashdown site.
"On behalf of SpaceX, welcome home," radioed SpaceX Mission Control in California.
"What a ride," replied Hague, the capsule's commander. "I see a capsule full of grins ear to ear."
Dolphins circled the capsule as divers readied it for hoisting onto the recovery ship.
Once safely on board, the side hatch was opened and the astronauts were helped out, one by one.
Williams was next-to-last out, followed by Wilmore who gave two gloved thumbs-up.
Look back on our live blog of the capsule's re-entry to the atmosphere and splashdown.
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