Boeing’s Beleaguered Starliner Capsule Leaves Space Station, Heads Home Without Astronauts

Boeing’s beleaguered new astronaut capsule pushed away from the International Space Station and headed for Earth Friday — notably without its crew due to concerns for their safety.

The Starline capsule undocked, leaving NASA’s two test pilots behind on the ISS — their home until next year. The return flight was expected to take six hours, with a nighttime touchdown in the New Mexico desert, NASA said.

“Bring her back to Earth,” astronaut Suni Williams told Boeing’s Mission Control before the spacecraft departed.

“Good luck.”

Williams and Butch Wilmore were scheduled to fly back to Earth in June, a week after launching. But what was meant to be an eight-day mission will turn into eight months, setting the record for the longest spaceflight by an American, due to thruster failures and a radiator leak caused by a meteorite or space junk hitting the Russian spacecraft.

NASA ultimately decided it was too risky to have the pair return on the Starliner.

The fully automated capsule left with their empty seats, blue spacesuits and some old station equipment. SpaceX will bring the duo back in late February.

Boeing’s first astronaut flight caps a drama-filled saga.

After space shuttles retired more than a decade ago, NASA tapped Boeing and SpaceX for orbital taxi service.

Boeing ran into myriad problems on its first test flight with no one aboard in 2019 and it had to repeat it. The 2022 do-over uncovered even more flaws, and the repair bill topped a whopping $1 billion.

Prior to Williams and Wilmore’s June 5 launch, Starliner’s propulsion system was leaking helium. The leak was small and thought to be isolated, but then four more cropped up after liftoff, after which five thrusters failed.

Although four of the thrusters were recovered, the malfunctions concerned NASA and made them wary about the capsule’s descent from orbit.

Boeing conducted numerous thruster tests on the ground and in space over the summer and was convinced the spacecraft could bring Wilmore and Williams home safely.

But NASA disagreed, opting instead for SpaceX.

Williams and Wilmore, veteran astronauts and retired Navy captains, are keeping busy during their unexpected extended ISS stay, assisting the seven others on board with experiments and repairs.