Because of faults with Boeing’s Starliner, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore had to wait months for a ride back to Earth on a different spacecraft.

On Tuesday, two NASA astronauts who had been in orbit since June, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, splashed down in calm, azure waters off the coast of the Florida Panhandle, concluding a saga that had captivated the country since last summer.

SpaceX delivered a four-person crew to the International Space Station early Sunday, setting the stage for Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams to depart.