Boeing spacecraft to return to Earth without crew

The Starliner capsule The Boeing Co. spacecraft separated from the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday (06.09.2024) to begin its return to Earth without the two astronauts it was carrying on the outbound flight, due to concerns about the safety of the aircraft.

“Separation confirmed,” an announcer said on NASA’s live broadcast at 22:04 GMT. “Starliner is now moving away from the station and beginning its return to Earth,” he added.

The ship is scheduled to land at a base in New Mexico.in the southwestern United States, at 04:03 GMT on Saturday, September 7.

The reputation of the American aerospace manufacturer, already questioned by numerous recent problems with its passenger planes, suffered a new blow in June, when Starliner’s thruster failures and helium leaks were detected during the inaugural manned flight.

Despite the company’s attempts to convince NASA of the safety of its aircraft, the US space agency preferred to send its crew members, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, home via Boeing’s competitor, SpaceX, and its Crew Dragon capsule.

The two astronauts, whose original mission was for eight days, will remain in space for more than eight months and will not return until 2025.

Boeing ship certification

Steve Stich, head of NASA’s commercial manned space flight program, told reporters this week that, Despite Boeing’s confidence in its projections, the space agency was “not comfortable” proceeding with Starliner “due to uncertainty surrounding the design.”

A smooth return flight will be essential for the American manufacturernot only for its corporate image, but also for its future possibilities of obtaining new manned space flight authorizations.

On the way back, Ground teams must monitor all aspects of Starliner’s performance, particularly its thrusters. -which has been experiencing problems- during the orbital boost that will allow it to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere.

Once Starliner’s return is confirmed, “we will know better when we can certify the ship and when we can resume flights,” Stich concluded.

A decade ago, NASA commissioned Boeing and SpaceX to supply spacecraft to transport its astronauts to the ISS. With two vehicles, it does not want to be left without a solution in case of a problem with one or the other.

Elon Musk’s company has largely outperformed Boeing and has been the primary U.S. space shuttle for the past four years.

mg (afp, efe)