Reaching orbit from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the newest crew includes NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, both military pilots; and Japan’s Takuya Onishi and Russia’s Kirill Peskov, both former airline pilots. They will spend the next six months at the space station, considered the normal stint, after springing Wilmore and Williams free.

A SpaceX capsule carrying a fresh crew to the space station launched Friday, setting the stage for the Starliner astronauts to finally come home.

The crew set to replace two astronauts stranded in space for nine months successfully launched this Friday. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took off from Florida, carrying four passengers who will replace Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 7:03 p.m. ET (2303 GMT) from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying four astronauts who will replace Wilmore and Williams, both of whom are veteran NASA astronauts and retired U.