The two NASA astronauts who have been stuck in space for nine months are headed back to earth Tuesday in a SpaceX capsule that arrived for them this past weekend at the International Space Station. 

Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore departed the International Space Station at 1:05 a.m. ET, and are expected to be back on earth this afternoon, according to CNN.

They were scheduled to be in space for a week. However, safety concerns about the Boeing spacecraft in which they arrived resulted in the craft returning to earth unmanned and the astronauts remaining at the space station.