WASHINGTON, March 18 — NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams departed the International Space Station early today in a SpaceX capsule for a long-awaited trip back to Earth, nine months after their faulty Boeing Starliner craft upended what was to be a roughly week-long test mission.

WASHINGTON, Sept 12 — Two astronauts from a SpaceX capsule in Earth’s orbit carried out the world’s first private spacewalk today, tethered to the Crew Dragon spacecraft, in the vacuum of space, while two others watched from inside, hundreds of miles from Earth.

WASHINGTON, Aug 25 — Two Nasa astronauts who flew to the International Space Station (ISS) in June aboard Boeing’s faulty Starliner capsule will return to Earth on a SpaceX vehicle early next year, Nasa officials said yesterday, deeming issues with Starliner’s propulsion system too risky to carry its first crew home as planned.