Crew 9 successfully splashed down near Tallahassee on Tuesday evening, marking the end of an unexpected months-long stay in space for two of its astronauts.The crew’s journey from the International Space Station (ISS) concluded at 5:57 p.m. after a 17-hour return trip. Applause erupted as SpaceX confirmed the safe landing.“Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams—on behalf of SpaceX, welcome home,” a mission control official announced following splashdown.Wilmore and Williams originally traveled to the ISS aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft in June for what was intended to be an eight-to-10-day mission. However, issues with the Boeing vehicle delayed their return, leading them to join SpaceX’s Crew 9 for a safe trip back to Earth. Their return marks an unprecedented event in space travel, as no astronauts have ever had to switch spacecraft mid-mission between two different organizations.“There’s never been a situation like this where astronauts had to switch plans in the middle of their mission and come back on a totally different spacecraft, representing a totally different organization,” said Don Platt, an associate professor of space systems at the Florida Institute of Technology.NASA officials say they are proud of both Boeing and SpaceX for collaborating to ensure a safe return for the astronauts. Joel Montalbano, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for space operations, highlighted the mission’s significance.“It shows the flexibility of commercial providers. Seeing that they went up on Boeing and came back on SpaceX is a lesson learned for NASA too,” Montalbano said.Forty-eight minutes after splashdown, the astronauts emerged from the Freedom capsule, marking the end of their prolonged but safe return. NASA leaders say they are looking forward to future successful missions from both Boeing and SpaceX.“We’re working with Boeing on certification of Starliner, getting that back up in flight,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA's commercial crew program. “Butch and Suni’s return on Dragon shows how important it is to have two crew transportation systems.”After landing, the astronauts were flown to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, NASA officials reaffirmed their commitment to working with Boeing, and says the company has assured them that it plans to continue developing space projects in the future.