Boeing's Starliner spacecraft detached from the International Space Station on Friday evening and returned to New Mexico without its crew.
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are scheduled to remain on the space station through February. They will return to Earth with a SpaceX crew that will likely launch to the ISS later this month, with two open seats available aboard the craft that NASA jokingly called an “Uber in orbit” on Friday.
NASA decided that returning astronauts aboard Starliner was too risky because the capsule was plagued by thruster problems and helium leaks. Wilmore and Williams were originally scheduled to leave the ISS in June, just a week after launch, turning their eight-day mission into an ordeal that lasted more than eight months.
After testing the capsule's thrusters, Boeing believed Williams and Wilmore would be able to return safely aboard the capsule, but NASA overturned that belief.
NASA astronauts say Starliner crew may change exercise routines during extended stay at ISS
An unmanned Boeing Starliner capsule fired its thrusters on Friday as it spun away from the International Space Station. (Associated Press via NASA)
NASA reported that Starliner demonstrated “good attitude and good control” shortly after the fully automated capsule returned to Earth from the space station on a “perfect trajectory.”
After undocking, it is scheduled to land at White Sands Spaceport in New Mexico in about six hours.
The unmanned Starliner capsule detached from the ISS on Friday evening. (NASA)
After Starliner left the space station, Williams radioed, “She's on her way home.”
NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov are scheduled to launch to the space station at the end of September on an initially four-person mission.
NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson were removed from the mission to allow Williams and Wilmore to return aboard a SpaceX spacecraft.
Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams inspect safety hardware on the International Space Station on Aug. 9. (Associated Press via NASA)
The US has relied on Russia to transport astronauts to the ISS since the space shuttle program ended in 2011. The decision was made after the space shuttle Columbia broke apart on re-entry into the atmosphere in 2003, killing all seven astronauts on board.
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SpaceX began ferrying astronauts to the space station on its rockets in 2020 after both it and Boeing were awarded contracts by NASA.
