Washington : Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft returned to Earth on Friday, uncrewed, after spending three months at the International Space Station (ISS) following technical issues.
NASA confirmed during a live broadcast that Starliner undocked from the ISS at 6:04 p.m. ET (2204 GMT) and landed at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico at 1:00 a.m. on Saturday.
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who flew to the ISS aboard Starliner in June, remained on the station due to the spacecraft’s technical problems. They were originally scheduled to stay for one week.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson stated that the decision to return the spacecraft without the crew was made for safety reasons.
Wilmore and Williams are expected to return to Earth in February 2025 aboard SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, which is scheduled to launch to the ISS on 24 September.
The launch schedule was adjusted to accommodate the astronauts’ return.
Starliner, produced by Boeing, is a partially reusable spacecraft consisting of a crew capsule and a service module.
