The ship left the International Space Station six hours earlier.
Varpu Kiviranta,
Antti Haavisto,
STT
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft has landed in New Mexico, USA.
Starliner detached itself from the space station Finnish time early Saturday night and landed at the space center in New Mexico, USA, at seven in the morning. The ship’s descent was slowed down by the shadows and the impact was softened by airbags.
The Starliner and the astronauts on board, which left for a test flight towards the International Space Station in June, were supposed to be in space for eight days. However, due to technical problems with the ship’s control system, the Starliner was unable to start the return journey as scheduled, and the astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams had to stay on the International Space Station for a significantly longer time than planned.
The Starliner was brought back to Earth without its crew because NASA said returning on board would have been too risky for the astronauts. Wilmore and Williams will return home aboard Boeing’s competitor Space X in February next year.
For Boeing, the difficulties of the first manned space flight in the company’s history have been embarrassing, as the company’s goal is to start regular flights to the International Space Station. Currently, NASA has a contract for transportation to the space station Elon Musk’s with the SpaceX company.
Reuters, AFP