Boeing Starliner Returns Home Safely

The mission to return the spacecraft to Earth concludes a flight test to the International Space Station that was unexpectedly extended to three months.

Monday, September 09, 2024 at 04:52 PM ET

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The two astronauts aboard the Starliner, Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams, will remain at the ISS until their return via the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft next February. [Credit: NASA]

Key Takeaways:

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft safely returned to Earth uncrewed after an unexpectedly extended three-month flight test to the International Space Station.
The mission was prolonged due to in-flight issues, including helium leaks and thruster malfunctions, which prevented the two astronauts from returning on Starliner as planned.
The astronauts, Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams, will now return to Earth aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft in February.
NASA considers the flight a valuable test, providing significant learning about the Starliner system, and will now review all mission data to work towards its certification for future crew rotation missions.

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The uncrewed Boeing Starliner safely returned to Earth on Friday night, landing at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico at 12:01 a.m. EST the following morning.

The mission to return the spacecraft to Earth concludes a flight test to the International Space Station (ISS) that was unexpectedly extended to three months after Starliner experienced helium leaks and thruster malfunctions on June 6.

Caleb Revill

Caleb Revill is a journalist, writer and lifelong learner working as a Junior Writer for Firecrown. When he isn't tackling breaking news, Caleb is on the lookout for fascinating feature stories.