2024-09-02 12:08:26
Washington: After spending 12 weeks in space, Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is ready to return home from the International Space Station (ISS). NASA has said that the Starliner will return to Earth from space on September 6. However, it is returning without the two astronauts who went with it. Boeing Starliner left for space on June 5 with astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore. It was supposed to return in a week but its return was stopped due to helium leak and thruster malfunction in the spaceship. Now NASA has told about its return plan. But there is no good news for Sunita Williams and Wilmore, both of them will have to stay on the space station in future as well.
Landing will take place in New Mexico
The Starliner spacecraft will separate from the orbiting lab around 6 p.m. local time on September 6. After maneuvering for six hours in the air, it will land at the base at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico around midnight. NASA said on August 24 that engineers were concerned about gas leaks and problems with the thruster system in the spacecraft. The US space agency found the spacecraft not safe enough to complete its mission with a crew.
The uncrewed Starliner spacecraft will return fully autonomously, with flight controllers at Starliner Mission Control in Houston and the Boeing Mission Control Center in Florida supporting the mission, NASA said in a new update on Thursday. Teams on the ground are able to remotely control the spacecraft through the maneuvers required for safe undocking, re-entry, and parachute-assisted landing in the southwestern US.
The whole world will be watching
The world will be watching the Starliner’s return. Its performance during the return could be crucial to the future of Boeing’s program. If the spacecraft crashes or NASA decides not to certify the spacecraft for human spaceflight, it would be another blow to Boeing’s already tarnished reputation.
Major damage to the Starliner
The company may lose millions of dollars in repeating this test flight and implementing the redesign on Starliner. The company has already recorded a loss of about $1.5 billion (about Rs 125 billion) on the Starliner program. Ken Bowersox, Assistant Administrator of NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, said last week that ‘We wanted to complete the (Boeing Starliner) test flight with all the crew and we are disappointed not to be able to do so. But you do not want this disappointment to be reflected in your decision.’