The beleaguered Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft has safely returned to Earth three months after blasting off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, on June 5, 2024.
As planned, the Boeing Starliner returned without its crew, with astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, remaining onboard the International Space Station (ISS) over safety concerns about the capsule.
Stunning footage captured the moment that Starliner undocked from ISS on September 6, 2024, before making its six-hour journey back home.
NASA confirmed that the spacecraft landed at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico at 00:01 Eastern Time on September 7, 2024.
We filmed the @Boeing Starliner undocking before its final journey to Earth from our 4K camera payload on the International Space Station. This video was captured during a private test of our livestream – we look forward to sharing future missions with the public once we start… pic.twitter.com/fNfWw0aiOa
— sen (@sen) September 7, 2024
“I am extremely proud of the work our collective team put into this entire flight test, and we are pleased to see Starliner’s safe return,” said Ken Bowersox, associate administrator, Space Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Even though it was necessary to return the spacecraft uncrewed, NASA and Boeing learned an incredible amount about Starliner in the most extreme environment possible.
Bowersox added: “NASA looks forward to our continued work with the Boeing team to proceed toward certification of Starliner for crew rotation missions to the space station.”
Starliner will now be shipped to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for inspection and processing.
Touchdown, #Starliner! The uncrewed spacecraft landed at New Mexico's White Sands Space Harbor at 12:01 am ET (0401 UTC) on Saturday, Sept. 7. pic.twitter.com/Q5lITEzATn
— NASA (@NASA) September 7, 2024
“We are excited to have Starliner home safely. This was an important test flight for NASA in setting us up for future missions on the Starliner system,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. “There was a lot of valuable learning that will enable our long-term success. I want to commend the entire team for their hard work and dedication over the past three months.”
On June 6, as Starliner approached the space station, NASA and Boeing identified helium leaks and experienced issues with the spacecraft’s reaction control thrusters.
Following weeks of in-space and ground testing, technical interchange meetings, and agency reviews, NASA made the decision to prioritize safety and return Starliner without its crew.
NASA confirmed on August 24, 2024, that Starliner will return to Earth without its two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who will instead hitch a ride on the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft in February 2025.
