The Boeing Starliner will not carry astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore|NASA Johnson|CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Boeing’s Starliner, which carried astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore to the ISS in June, will begin its return journey to Earth today without them. NASA lost confidence that the capsule could ferry the astronauts back because of equipment malfunctions.
The Starliner is set for an uncrewed return after a 92-day mission. Initially, the capsule and the crew were supposed to come back after just over a week. Wilmore and Williams will remain on the ISS until February 2024 and come home by a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.
The capsule will undock from the ISS on Friday evening and is expected to land in White Sands, New Mexico, early Saturday morning.
Despite the setbacks, Boeing engineers are confident the capsule can safely re-enter, but NASA remains cautious due to the complexity and risks of spaceflight.
Boeing has faced challenges with the Starliner and will need to conduct further tests before the rocket can be fully certified for future crewed missions.