Starliner Capsule Heads Home Without Crew

Williams and Wilmore brought the Boeing Starliner up on June 5, and the astronauts were undoubtedly hoping to make the trip back with it, but NASA said, “The uncrewed Starliner spacecraft will perform a fully autonomous return with flight controllers at Starliner Mission Control in Houston and at Boeing Mission Control Center in Florida.” The capsule is set to undock from the ISS at 6 p.m. EST before eventually landing in New Mexico’s White Sands Space Harbor around midnight. NASA said that ground teams will be able to remotely control the capsule and perform undocking, re-entry, and landing.

While the Boeing Starliner is set to make it back to Earth, the future of the Boeing program is less certain. The return trip will likely play a role in NASA’s decision whether or not to certify the vehicle for human spaceflight. Boeing has been dealing with quite a few issues with its reputation lately thanks to the crashes of planes, deaths of passengers, and other notable failures, so this Starliner issue is only adding to the pile.

This has already proven to be a money-losing endeavor for the company, as it has spent around $1.5 billion in losses on the Starliner program. If the capsule doesn’t get the human spaceflight certification, Boeing would likely need to sink millions more into testing and redesigns to get it up to snuff. Plus, there’s the possibility that NASA will opt not to grant the certification even if the return trip does go off without a hitch.

NASA’s engineers have been working for weeks to see how to address the propulsion system issues the Starliner has been facing while in space, though it’s clear the issues were unable to be solved to a point where the agency felt comfortable bringing humans home on it. Throughout the process, Boeing continued to maintain the belief that the vehicle was safe enough for the return flight. However, on August 24, the company released the statement that it was focused on the safety of the crew, saying “We are executing the mission as determined by NASA, and we are preparing the spacecraft for a safe and successful uncrewed return.”

Of course, the two individuals most affected by all of this are the crew who will remain stuck on the International Space Station while the Boeing Starliner returns back to Earth without them. Unfortunately, Williams and Wilmore will have to wait quite a bit before they can come back home. The two astronauts are set to fly back on a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule in February at the earliest, though it’s always possible that return could get delayed as well.

Source: NASA