By Sherwin Bryce Pearce

This after their Boeing Starliner craft suffered technical difficulties on what was originally an 8-day test mission and later returned to earth without its crew due to safety concerns.

The crew departed the International Space Station just after 0700 CAT Tuesday touching down with a splash just before midnight around 1800 CAT local time off Florida's Tallahassee coast.

Their return brings to a close a protracted mission, Williams and Wilmore who are both veteran NASA astronauts launched into space as Starliner's first crew in June last year for an 8 day mission. But difficulties with Starliner's propulsion system led to delays to get them home.

NASA later decided to fold them into its crew rotation schedule to the International Space Station and return them in a SpaceX craft this year. And for once a good news story to tell.

--SABC--