Boeing's Starliner spacecraft lands after 3 months in space

Despite the problems encountered during its flight to the International Space Station (ISS), Starliner's unmanned landing went as expected, with the spacecraft touching down exactly as NASA and Boeing had designed for its delayed return.

Boeing and NASA have spent the past three months conducting tests at White Sands, trying to replicate and understand the propulsion problems the Starliner spacecraft encountered in space.

Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams launched to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the Starliner on June 4 and are expected to stay in orbit for another week.

The CFT mission is Starliner's final qualification flight before entering rotational service as a crew transport to the ISS.

However, propulsion problems as the spacecraft approached the ISS delayed Starliner's return by three months, eventually returning without astronauts on board.

Spaceship returns without astronauts

NASA announced the decision to allow Starliner to return without a crew in late August, sending astronauts Wilmore and Williams to join ISS Expedition 8.

This has forced NASA to make two seats available on SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft for NASA later this month so that Wilmore and Williams can return home on the Crew-9 mission in February next year. This will bring the two astronauts home after 9 months on the space station, instead of the expected ten days.

The path forward for the Starliner spacecraft remains unclear. The spacecraft was scheduled to begin six-month missions to the ISS starting in February next year, but that was eventually pushed back to August 2 at the earliest.

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According to Live Science