Boeing Starliner capsule returns to Earth, leaving its 2 astronauts behind for months
Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore arrived at the space station in June, but won't be able to get home until 2025
After months of turmoil over its safety, Boeing's new astronaut capsule departed the International Space Station on Friday without its crew and landed back on Earth.
NASA's two test pilots stayed behind at the space station — their home until next several months — as the Starliner capsule undocked 420 kilometres over China, springs gently pushing it away from the orbiting laboratory.
"She's on her way home," astronaut Suni Williams radioed after Starliner exited.
Starliner returned to Earth seemingly without a hitch, a NASA livestream showed, nailing the critical final phase of its mission with a nighttime touchdown in the New Mexico desert.
The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Starliner?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Starliner</a> spacecraft is back on Earth.<br><br>At 12:01am ET Sept. 7, <a href="https://twitter.com/BoeingSpace?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BoeingSpace</a>’s uncrewed Starliner spacecraft landed in White Sands Space Harbor, New Mexico. <a href="https://t.co/vTYvgPONVc">pic.twitter.com/vTYvgPONVc</a>
—@Commercial_CrewThruster failures, helium leaks
Williams and Butch Wilmore should have flown Starliner back to Earth in June, a week after launching in it.
But thruster failures and helium leaks marred their ride to the space station. NASA ultimately decided it was too risky to return the duo on Starliner.
The fully automated capsule left with their empty seats and blue spacesuits along with some old station equipment.
SpaceX will bring the duo back in late February, stretching their original eight-day mission to more than eight months.
The Dragon capsule will launch on the half-year expedition with only two astronauts since two seats are reserved for Wilmore and Williams for the return leg.
A journey filled with delays
Boeing's first astronaut flight caps a journey filled with delays and setbacks.
After the space shuttles retired more than a decade ago, NASA hired Boeing and SpaceX for orbital taxi service.
Boeing ran into so many problems on its first test flight with no one aboard in 2019 that it had to repeat it.
The 2022 do-over uncovered even more flaws and the repair bill topped $1 billion US. SpaceX's crew ferry flight later this month will be its 10th for NASA since 2020.
Even before the pair launched on June 5, Starliner's propulsion system was leaking helium.
The leak was small and thought to be isolated, but four more cropped up after liftoff. Then five thrusters failed.
Although four of the thrusters were recovered, it gave NASA pause as to whether more malfunctions might hamper the capsule's descent from orbit.
Boeing conducted numerous thruster tests in space, and on the ground over the summer, and was convinced its spacecraft could safely bring Wilmore and Williams home.
But NASA disagreed and opted for SpaceX.
A minute after separating from the space station, Starliner's thrusters could be seen firing as the white, blue-trimmed capsule slowly backed away.
NASA Mission Control called it a "perfect" departure.
Engineers suspect the more the thrusters are fired, the hotter they become, causing protective seals to swell and obstruct the flow of propellant.
The aerospace giant's Starliner woes represent the latest struggle that call into question Boeing's future in space, a domain it had dominated for decades until Elon Musk's SpaceX began offering cheaper launches for satellites and astronauts and reshaped the way NASA works with private companies.
Boeing plans to continue its investigation into why the thrusters failed in space, but the section that housed Starliner's thrusters — the "service module" trunk that provides in-space manoeuvring capabilities — detached from the capsule as designed just before it plunged into Earth's atmosphere.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Reuters