Boeing Starliner Capsule Returns to Earth in One Piece

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft has safely returned to Earth, touching down in the New Mexico desert after a prolonged orbital mission that was originally planned to last just 10 days. The Starliner’s crew remains stranded in space until they can be rescued by SpaceX.

Space.com reports that the Boeing Starliner capsule, named Calypso, has completed its Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission, landing at the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico this weekend. The spacecraft’s return marks the end of an extended mission that lasted over three months, far beyond its initial 10-day timeline. The prolonged mission was caused by multiple tech problems and failures.

Starliner launched on June 5, 2024, carrying NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to the International Space Station (ISS). However, the mission encountered several challenges, including helium leaks and propulsion issues, with five of the capsule’s 28 reaction control system (RCS) thrusters failing shortly after liftoff. These issues led to repeated delays in the spacecraft’s return, as NASA and Boeing worked to analyze and troubleshoot the problems.

Ultimately, the space agency determined that bringing the astronauts home on Starliner posed an unacceptable safety risk. As a result, Williams and Wilmore will remain aboard the ISS until February 2025, when they will return to Earth on a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule as part of the company’s Crew-9 mission. To accommodate the additional crew members, Crew-9 will launch with two astronauts instead of the usual four.

The Starliner spacecraft undocked from the ISS and performed a series of burns to prepare for its uncrewed landing. The capsule touched down under parachutes at the designated landing site, with NASA’s Steve Stich, manager of the Commercial Crew Program, describing it as a “bullseye landing.”

Despite the challenges faced during the mission, Stich emphasized that the astronauts would have been safe if they had been aboard the capsule during the landing sequence. However, he maintained that NASA’s decision to prioritize safety based on the available data was the right call.

The CFT mission was a crucial test flight for Starliner, which Boeing has been developing alongside SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The program aims to restore the United States’ capability to launch astronauts from its own soil, a feat not achieved since the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011.

While SpaceX’s Crew Dragon has already been certified and is conducting regular crewed missions to the ISS, Starliner’s path to certification remains uncertain. The first operational Starliner flight, originally planned for February 2025, has been pushed back to August 2025 at the earliest. NASA and Boeing have yet to determine the additional tests and requirements necessary for Starliner’s certification.