Starliner capsule lands successfully in New Mexico

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — The Starliner capsule has successfully landed in New Mexico, NASA said.

The capsule was launched Friday morning from Cape Canaveral, but encountered issues shortly after and failed to reach the International Space Station.

Boeing is working toward flying astronauts to the station for NASA as part of the commercial crew program.

The Starliner was slated to carry about 600 pounds of crew supplies and equipment to the International Space Station. After its launch, while NASA officials said it remained in a stable orbit, the capsule missed its burn to rendezvous with the space station.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said that since the capsule believed it was in orbital insertion burn when it wasn’t, more fuel was burned than anticipated to maintain control.

Bridenstine said if the mission had been crewed, the issues due to automation wouldn’t have happened.

While the space vehicle is completely automated, NASA regulations ensure the astronauts can manually take over at any time.

“There could have been actions that we could have taken and we will continue to develop those actions," said Nicole Mann, a NASA astronaut.

“Remember what we do as an agency,” Bridenstine said during a post-launch news conference. “We do really difficult things and we do it all the time. Yes, we have challenges, but we figure out what those challenges are, we fix them and we move forward.”

Dozens of locals and tourists from all over the world witnessed the launch at Jetty Park on Friday morning.

“I’m from South Florida, so to be here to experience this is once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Jessica Nurquez.

Anita Sant was also excited to watch the launch: “I’m just amazed that I’ve been able to be here to see that happen."

Despite the Starliner’s failure to reach the space station, NASA said the test still accomplished what it needed to, in the sense of continually learning everything possible to keep launching American astronauts on American rockets from American soil.

Bridenstine announced Saturday that the capsule is expected to land at 5:57 a.m. MST Sunday at the landing site at White Sands Space Harbor on the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, with a backup opportunity at the same site at 1:48 p.m. MST.

Video: What went wrong: Starliner capsule misses orbit insertion burn, won?t reach space station, NASA says Boeing encountered some issues after launching its Starliner spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Friday morning.

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During the uncrewed flight, crews will also analyze the spacecraft’s integrated performance, its rendezvous with the space station, reentry and recovery. Data will even be recovered from a flight test dummy named Rosie, after Rosie the Riveter.

READ MORE: Starliner rolled out ahead of Friday launch from Cape Canaveral

A successful flight will bring NASA a step closer to launching U.S. astronauts from U.S. soil for the first time since the retirement of the shuttle program in 2011.

Astronaut Chris Ferguson commanded that mission and is slated to be on the first crewed flight test of the Starliner, along with astronauts Nicole Mann and Mike Fincke.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Ferguson said. “This is a great way for me personally to cap off what I call the career of a professional astronaut.”

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine is on the Space Coast ahead of Friday’s launch.

“It’s a great time to be at the Kennedy Space Center with all the great work being done here,” Bridenstine said. “And when we start launching into space it’s going to be a great time to be an American.”

At the end of its mission, the Starliner will land at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

If you missed the launch, you can watch it in its entirety below.

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