Boeing’s Starliner capsule touched down gently at 4:01 a.m. local time at White Sands Air Force Station in New Mexico, its descent slowed by parachutes and cushioned by airbags. It had left the ISS about six hours earlier, according to NASA’s video feed. Ground crews reported hearing booms as the spacecraft hurtled through the 3,000-degree Fahrenheit night sky at supersonic speed during reentry.
The reputation of the American aeronautics giant (already dented by numerous recent problems with its airliners) took a further hit in June when thruster failures and helium leaks on the capsule were detected during the inaugural manned flight. Despite the manufacturer’s attempts to convince NASA of the safety of its device, the space agency preferred to bring Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams back via Boeing’s competitor, SpaceX, and its Crew Dragon capsule. The two astronauts, who will not return until next year, will remain in space for more than eight months, whereas they were initially supposed to carry out a mission of… eight days.
NASA’s commercial human spaceflight program manager Steve Stich told reporters this week that despite Boeing’s confidence in its projections, the space agency “was not comfortable” proceeding with Starliner “because of (…)
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