Boeing's Starliner Spaceship Returns To Earth Without Astronauts

Boeing's beleaguered Starliner returned to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) without astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry E Wilmore. 

The gumdrop-shaped capsule landed gently at the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico at approximately 0401 GMT (9:30 am), its descent slowed by parachutes and cushioned by airbags, having departed the ISS around six hours earlier. 

The #Starliner spacecraft is back on Earth.

At 12:01am ET Sept. 7, @BoeingSpace's uncrewed Starliner spacecraft landed in White Sands Space Harbor, New Mexico. pic.twitter.com/vTYvgPONVc — NASA Commercial Crew (@Commercial_Crew) September 7, 2024

After years of delays, Starliner launched in June for what was meant to be a roughly weeklong test mission -- a final shakedown before it could finally be certified to ferry crew to and from the orbital laboratory.

But unexpected thruster malfunctions and helium leaks on its way up derailed those plans, and NASA ultimately decided it was safer to bring astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams back on a rival SpaceX Crew Dragon -- though they'll have to wait until February 2025.