Boeing’s Starliner capsule, named Calypso, undocked from the ISS at 6:04 PM Eastern time on September 6 and safely and gently landed at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico at 12:01 AM on September 7. This landing took place, even though it was initially meant to bring astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore back to Earth, who ended up watching the coverage of its re-entry and landing instead. The decision for the astronauts to come home on a SpaceX Crew Dragon in February was made for safety reasons after Starliner experienced issues with its service module leaking helium and malfunctioning thrusters. Engineers conducted tests on the spacecraft, but NASA ultimately decided to have it return uncrewed. During the post-landing press conference, Boeing was absent, and NASA officials discussed the landing and praised the successful docking and landing of the Starliner. The mission achieved around 85 to 90 percent of its objectives, and NASA and Boeing plan to analyze data gathered by the spacecraft to design improvements. Despite the setbacks, plans for future missions are in progress, with Crew-9 Mission expected to launch with two astronauts to accommodate Wilmore and Williams for their return in February.
