by Reuters Report According to, if everything goes according to plan, the Starliner capsule will undocke at the ISS on the evening of September 6 US time and after a journey of about six hours, will attempt to land at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.
The Starliner spacecraft was launched on June 5. This was Boeing’s first manned mission. Two astronauts – Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore – boarded the spacecraft and reached the ISS. The Starliner capsule successfully docked at the ISS the next day after the launch. After that the problems started.
Helium leaked in the spacecraft and then five of its control system thrusters failed. Starline’s mission was proposed to last only 10 days, but a malfunction in the spacecraft put the mission in a non-return situation. The biggest question was what would happen to the two astronauts.
A few days ago, NASA and Boeing decided that Sunita and Butch would not be brought back to Earth by Starliner. This means that if Starliner returns to Earth on September 6, there will be no crew on board.
NASA has said that Sunita and Butch will now return to Earth with the Crew-9 mission. That mission is to be launched in September and can return to Earth in February or March next year. This means that Sunita and Butch will be able to return to Earth by February or March 2025.
The return of Starliner is also a setback for Boeing. The company has been trying to give wings to its ambitions in the space sector for a long time. If the Starliner mission had been successful, in the coming days Elon Musk’s company SpaceX would have got a personal competitor in this field. It seems that now Boeing will have to make many more attempts.