The troubled Boeing Starliner will depart from the International Space Station tonight, traveling back to Earth without its crew and bringing an end to its first crewed test flight.
After an issue with its thrusters was discovered during the outward journey, several months of testing have not given NASA complete confidence that the spacecraft is safe to carry crew members through the rigors of re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, so the astronauts it carried will stay on the space station while the spacecraft returns home.
Before the Starliner undocked, the ground control team at Starliner mission control in Houston spoke with astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore who remain on the space station. They will travel back to Earth on a SpaceX Crew Dragon in February next year instead. “We have your backs, and you’ve got this,” Williams told flight control. “Bring her back to Earth.”
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