When Hague and Gorbunov return from the space station in February, they will bring back space veterans Williams and Butch Wilmore, whose stay on the ISS was prolonged for months due to problems with their Boeing-designed Starliner spacecraft.

NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov launched aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon from Cape Canaveral, Florida, shortly after 1 p.m. on Saturday. The Crew-9 capsule successfully made contact with the ISS around 5:30 p.m. on Sunday. Ninety minutes later, Eastern time Hague, Gorbunov boarded the ISS.

NASA decided using the Boeing Starliner capsule to bring Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams back to Earth was too risky following a string of technical glitches on their outwards journey.