Airbags and parachutes cushioned and slowed the descent. The embattled Starliner manufactured by Boeing has returned to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) minus astronauts Barry E. Wilmore and Sunita Williams.
After leaving the International Space Station around six hours earlier, the gumdrop-shaped spacecraft made a soft landing at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico at 0401 GMT (9:30 am). Its descent was delayed by parachutes and cushioned by airbags.
Following years of delays, Starliner finally launched in June for a planned roughly week-long test trip. This was to be the last check before the spacecraft was certified to transport crew members to and from the orbiting laboratory.Though they will have to wait until February 2025, NASA finally decided it was safer to fly Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams back on a competing SpaceX Crew Dragon after unexpected thruster problems and helium leaks on the way up delayed those plans.
Arriving at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico at roughly 0401 GMT, the capsule shaped like a gumdrop descended gently, aided by airbags and parachutes, after leaving the International Space Station approximately six hours earlier.
It streaked red hot across the night sky, reaching temperatures of 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,650 degrees Celsius) during atmospheric reentry, while ground personnel reported hearing sonic booms.
Not only was a smooth and uneventful ride important for preserving some pride, but it was also thought to be crucial for Boeing’s chances of obtaining certification in the future.
The century-old aerospace behemoth had conducted extensive ground testing to mimic the technical hiccups the spaceship had encountered during its ascent and to develop contingency plans to avoid future mishaps.
Boeing, whose reputation had already been damaged by safety issues with its passenger planes, assured both publicly and privately that it could be relied upon to safely return the astronauts home. NASA did not agree with this assessment.
“Boeing had faith in the model that they developed to forecast the thruster degradation for the remainder of the flight,” NASA’s Commercial Crew Program program manager, Steve Stich, said to reporters this week.
However, he continued, “the NASA team, due to the uncertainty in the modeling, could not get comfortable with that,” describing the atmosphere in meetings as “tense.”
