WATCH: Boeing’s Damaged Starliner Spaceship Returns To Earth Without Sunita Williams, Barry Wilmore

Boeing’s Starliner space capsule successfully landed on Earth after departing from the International Space Station (ISS) without the two astronauts it had carried in early June. NASA test pilots Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will stay at the ISS until next year. The capsule touched down near White Sands Space Harbour, New Mexico, at approximately 9.31 am (IST), concluding its return journey in six hours.

The #Starliner spacecraft is back on Earth.
At 12:01am ET Sept. 7, @BoeingSpace’s uncrewed Starliner spacecraft landed in White Sands Space Harbor, New Mexico. pic.twitter.com/vTYvgPONVc
— NASA Commercial Crew (@Commercial_Crew) September 7, 2024

After years of delays, Starliner launched in June for what was meant to be a roughly weeklong test mission — a final shakedown before it could finally be certified to ferry crew to and from the orbital laboratory.

But unexpected thruster malfunctions and helium leaks on its way up derailed those plans, and NASA ultimately decided it was safer to bring astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams back on a rival SpaceX Crew Dragon — though they’ll have to wait until February 2025.