Empty Boeing Starliner spacecraft could return next week

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — NASA is targeting no earlier than next Friday for the return of an uncrewed Boeing Starliner spacecraft.

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The spacecraft launched with astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on June 5.

Now, the Starliner named Calypso will undock from the International Space Station as soon as next Friday and make a parachute and air bag-assisted landing in New Mexico.

Dr. Ken Kremer with Space UpClose told us, “They’re definitely going to get tons of information. They’re going to find out if it really was safe to bring the astronauts home on Starliner, or if it wasn’t, it was a close call. There were good arguments on both sides.” 

Read: SpaceX Falcon 9 cleared to resume flights

After helium leaks and thruster issues aboard the Starliner, NASA decided to bring its Crew Flight Test astronauts home on the upcoming Crew-9 mission.

NASA astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will liftoff on that mission in a SpaceX Crew Dragon with two empty seats no earlier than Tuesday, Sept. 24.

Read: Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft set for return to Earth next week, without its astronaut crew

This Friday, the FAA cleared SpaceX to resume its Falcon 9 rocket flights while the investigation into a first-stage booster landing mishap continues.

Crew-9, including Wilmore and Williams, will remain at the space station until February 2025.

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