The Boeing Starliner finally has a scheduled date to return to Earth — September 7. However, it will return to New Mexico without the crew that steered it into space in June.
In a mission update on Thursday, NASA said that the “uncrewed Starliner spacecraft will perform a fully autonomous return with flight controllers at Starliner Mission Control in Houston and at Boeing Mission Control Center in Florida.”
The update added that after undocking from the International Space Station (ISS), the aircraft will take “about six hours to reach the landing zone at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico,” touching down at midnight on September 7.
After it touches down, recovery teams will prepare for its return to Boeing’s Starliner factory at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, the update said.
The announcement came shortly after NASA decided that the aircraft was unsuitable for bringing NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore back to Earth.
The duo have been on the ISS since Starliner docked there on June 6.
Their mission, which was to test the Starliner’s capabilities for commercial space travel, was supposed to last between eight and 10 days. Their return kept getting delayed because of issues with the aircraft’s thrusters.
Since then, the two of them have integrated with the ISS crew, conducting tests on the Starliner, performing science experiments on the ISS, and even helping with maintenance chores.
They are now scheduled to return via the SpaceX Crew Dragon in February 2025. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson explained the decision to bring the Starliner back uncrewed during a press conference on Saturday at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
“Spaceflight is risky,” he said. “Even at its safest. Even at its most routine. A test flight, by nature, is neither safe nor routine. So, the decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard the International Space Station, and bring the Boeing Starliner home un-crewed, is a result of a commitment to safety.”
Representatives for NASA did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.
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