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Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is heading home, albeit with no one inside.
The Starliner left its docking port at the space station just after 6 p.m. ET, according to NASA. The capsule will spend about six hours free-flying through orbit as it slowly makes its descent toward home.
Before the capsule departed, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams — the two NASA astronauts who flew Starliner to the space station back in June — wished the spacecraft, nicknamed “Calypso” by Williams, luck on its long-awaited and unexpected journey home.
“It is time to bring Calypso home,” Williams said to mission control Friday evening. “You have got this. We have your backs, and you’ve got this. Bring her back to Earth.”
This was Starliner’s first crewed mission which was supposed to prove it was finally ready for regular operation after years of delays and going way over budget. But two separate problems cropped up that ultimately resulted in NASA’s decision to send it home empty.
It was the capsule’s first crewed test flight, a mission expected to last around eight days. But problems with the spacecraft’s thrusters and leaking helium in its propulsion system unexpectedly kept Starliner parked in space for the last three months, as engineers on the ground assessed how to safely bring it back to Earth.
After weeks of tests and analysis, NASA determined that the capsule’s propulsion system appeared stable, but the thruster issues posed too much of a risk for Starliner to return with a crew.
