Janice R. Andrews
On September 6, 2024, Boeing’s Starliner will return to Earth without a crew. This will be a very important point in the spacecraft’s trip. At 6:04 PM Eastern Time, the Starliner will separate from the International Space Station (ISS) without any people on board. It should land at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico around 12:03 AM ET on September 7 if everything goes as planned. The spaceship will use airbags and parachutes to make sure it falls safely.
Starliner’s solo flight came to an end with this return. It was a big test for Boeing’s spaceship after delays and technical problems in the past. Teams on the ground at Starliner Mission Control in Houston and Boeing Mission Control Center in Florida will keep a close eye on the flight and are ready to take over remotely if needed. However, the plan is meant to work on its own.
NASA recently decided that astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will take a SpaceX Crew Dragon back to Earth instead of the Starliner that they took to get to the ISS. At first, the scientists were meant to stay on the ISS for a little more than a week, but there were a lot of problems that made that impossible. Notably, five of the Starliner’s maneuvering engines stopped working, and a helium leak got worse, so NASA decided it was dangerous for the crew to return.
NASA said there was too much doubt about the Starliner’s thrusters, so Wilmore and Williams will return to Earth next year on a SpaceX vehicle. The SpaceX Crew-9 mission, which can’t happen before September 24, will only have two people on board so that Wilmore and Williams can go on their return trip in February 2025.
Live footage of Starliner’s return will be available on NASA+, the NASA app, and NASA’s website, so space fans can see this important event occurring right now.
