After months of turmoil over its safety, Boeing’s new astronaut capsule departed the International Space Station on Friday without its crew and headed back...
undocked, springs gently pushing it away from the orbiting laboratory. The return flight was expected to take six hours, with a nighttime touchdown in the New Mexico desert.
NASA ultimately decided it was too risky to return the duo on Starliner. So the fully automated capsule left with their empty seats and blue spacesuits along with some old station equipment. SpaceX will bring the duo back in late February, stretching their original eight-day mission to more than eight months.
As veteran astronauts and retired Navy captains, Wilmore and Williams anticipated hurdles on the test flight. They’ve kept busy in space, helping with repairs and experiments. The two are now full-time station crew members along with the seven others on board. NASA’s commercial crew program manager Steve Stich said earlier this week that teams have been so focused on Starliner’s return that they’ve had no time to think about what’s next for Boeing. He said the space agency remains committed to having two competing U.S. companies transporting astronauts.The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Boeing Butch Wilmore NASA Starliner International Space Station Test Flight Space Shuttles Spacex Dragon Capsule
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NASA Astronaut Reports ’Strange Sound’ Coming From Troubled Boeing StarlinerNina Golgowski is a senior breaking news and general assignment reporter. Prior to joining HuffPost, she served as a breaking news reporter for the New York Daily News, as a reporter for the UK's Daily Mail Online, and as a freelancer for CNN. You can reach her at nina.golgowskihuffpost.
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Source of ‘Pulsing Sound’ From Boeing’s Troubled Starliner IdentifiedMeanwhile, NASA sets return date for empty spacecraft, as it crew remains aboard the ISS until February.
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NASA, Boeing prepare for return of Starliner spacecraft — without its astronautsBoeing's Starliner spacecraft that launched NASA's Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the International Space Station is pictured docked to the Harmony module's forward port. This view is from a window on the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft docked to the port adjacent to the Starliner.
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