Boeing’s Starliner capsule successfully returns to Earth, but without ISS astronauts

Boeing’s Starliner capsule successfully returned to Earth on Saturday, September 7. It landed gently at 06:01 (Paris time) at the White Sands space station in New Mexico, in the southwest United States. Its descent was slowed by parachutes and cushioned by airbags. It had left the ISS about six hours earlier, according to NASA’s video feed.

Despite the manufacturer’s attempts to convince NASA of the safety of its device, the space agency preferred to bring Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams back via Boeing’s competitor, SpaceX, and its Crew Dragon capsule. The two astronauts, who will not return until next year, will remain in space for more than eight months, whereas they were initially supposed to carry out an eight-day mission.

NASA’s commercial human spaceflight program manager Steve Stich told reporters this week that despite Boeing’s certainty about its projections, the space agency “was not comfortable” to proceed with Starliner “due to the uncertainty around the model”This smooth return flight should help the American manufacturer to reassure and obtain new approvals for manned flights.