Boeing Starliner Spaceship Returns to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) without astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry E Wilmore. The gumdrop-shaped capsule of Boeing Starliner Spaceship returns to Earth landing gently at White Sands Space Harbour in New Mexico at 0401 GMT (9:30 a.m.), its descent delayed by parachutes and cushioned by airbags after leaving the ISS nearly six hours prior.

After years of delays, Starliner launched in June for an approximately week-long test flight, a last shakedown before being certified to carry crew to and from the orbital laboratory.

However, unforeseen rocket problems and helium leaks on the way up disrupted those plans, and NASA ultimately determined it was safer to return Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to a competitor SpaceX Crew Dragon, though they will have to wait until February 2025.

The gumdrop-shaped capsule landed softly at White Sands Space Harbour in New Mexico at roughly 0401 GMT; parachutes slowed its descent. Airbags cushioned it after it had left the ISS around six hours earlier.

Ground teams reported hearing sonic booms as the meteor streaked red-hot across the night sky. During atmospheric reentry, the meteor experienced temperatures of 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,650 degrees Celsius).

A smooth, uneventful ride was considered crucial for preserving some pride and for Boeing’s future certification prospects.

The century-old aerospace firm has conducted extensive ground testing to replicate the technical faults encountered during the spaceship’s ascension and established procedures to avoid future failures.

With its reputation already tarnished by safety worries about its passenger jets, Boeing gave public and private assurances that it could be trusted to return the astronauts safely—an assessment that NASA did not share.

“Boeing believed in the model that they had created that tried to predict thruster degradation for the rest of the flight,” said Steve Stich, program manager for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, telling reporters this week.

However, “the NASA team, due to the uncertainty in the modelling, could not get comfortable with that,” he added, describing the atmosphere during meetings as “tense.”

Shortly after undocking, Starliner performed a forceful “breakout burn” to quickly clear it from the station and eliminate any possibility of collision—a manoeuvre that would have been unnecessary if the crew were present to take manual control if needed.

Following that, mission teams thoroughly tested their thrusters in preparation for the vital “deorbit burn,” which required guiding the capsule onto its reentry course approximately 40 minutes before landing.

While anticipation was high that Starliner would land successfully, as in two previous uncrewed tests, NASA will now carefully evaluate all aspects of the mission’s performance before deciding on the next steps.

NASA awarded Boeing and SpaceX multibillion-dollar contracts more than a decade ago to create aircraft to transport men to and from the International Space Station. When the Space Shuttle program ended, the US space agency was reliant on Russian rockets.

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