Uncrewed Boeing Starliner Lands Safely In New Mexico

WASHINGTON, Sept 7 (Bernama-UPI) -- The uncrewed Boeing Starliner successfully landed in New Mexico late Friday after departing six hours earlier from the International Space Station, United Press International (UPI) reported.

The capsule left behind two astronauts -- Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams -- who must now remain in the station until February for a return home on a SpaceX capsule. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) decided problems with Starliner's thrusters and leaking helium made it too risky of a return with humans.

Starliner landed at White Sands Space Harbor at 10.01 pm MDT. Ground crews welcomed the capsule with plans to return it to Florida where it launched on June 6.

The autonomous undocking from the ISS was carried out as scheduled at 4.04 pm. MDT after the craft was unhooked from the the forward module of the station. It slowly backed away while executing a series of 12 "breakout burns" over a 5-minute span, driving it farther away from the station while flying over central China.

The Starliner oriented itself as it plunged into the Earth's atmosphere while still travelling at more than 17,000 miles per hour. The atmosphere was more than 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

Three parachutes and thrusters slowed the craft and airbags were deployed.

Boeing is hoping to earn certification for future flights for NASA. NASA wants to rely on another company than Space-X and Russia's Soyuz for Space Station missions.

Starliner is the first United States-made capsule to land on the ground instead of splashing down in the ocean.

"It's important to remember this was a test mission," Joel Montalbano, NASA's deputy associate administrator for space operations, said at a news conference after Starliner had landed.

Its flight path went over parts of northern Mexico and southwestern New Mexico, making it visible in the night sky over those areas depending on cloud cover.

On June 5, the Boeing spacecraft took off on its first crewed flight, transporting NASA Wilmore and Williams to the space station.

However, as it approached the orbiting laboratory, NASA and Boeing identified helium leaks and noted malfunctions with its reaction control thrusters.

Five of Starliner's 28 "reaction control system" thrusters abruptly stopped working en route to the space station. Four were recovered and at least one stayed out of service for the entire mission.

NASA announced last month that out of concerns for the safety of Wilmore and Williams, they will remain aboard the ISS until February while Starliner is autonomously returned to Earth without a crew.

Wilmore and Williams are now scheduled to return home aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft with two other crew members assigned to NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 mission.

-- BERNAMA-UPI