After an unexpectedly long time spent in orbit, the Boeing Starliner spacecraft has returned safely to Earth after three months. Although it was designed to carry astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS), the spacecraft returned home without crew following a problem with its thrusters.
The Starliner landed in White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico just after midnight ET on September 7, bringing to an end its first crewed test flight. Its reentry through the atmosphere went to plan, and it performed a parachute-assisted landing in the desert that was cushioned with airbags. However, during the return flight, there were more minor issues with its thrusters, including two of the 27 reaction control thrusters getting hotter than expected, and one thruster on the crew module that failed — although it was covered by a redundant thruster.
Launched on June 5 carrying two NASA astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, the spacecraft experienced an issue with its reaction control thrusters on its outward journey when coming in to dock with the ISS. What was originally supposed to be an eight-day mission stretched on for weeks while NASA and Boeing investigated the cause of the thruster issue. Eventually, NASA decided to keep the two astronauts on board the space station and bring the Starliner home uncrewed.
“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 of NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate in a statement. “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. 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.”
The spacecraft has not yet been certified for use by NASA — meaning that it has not yet been given the OK from NASA to regularly transport crew. NASA will now review data from the flight, but in a press conference, agency representatives said that it had not yet decided whether another test flight would be required before certification.
NASA has emphasized that, despite acting with caution in choosing to keep the astronauts on the space station, it does not consider the Starliner test flight to be a failure. The astronauts will stay on the space station acting as regular crew and joining the Crew-9 mission before traveling home with those astronauts in February 2025 in a SpaceX Dragon.
“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.”