It is not a surprise. It was initially planned that the capsule’s return to Earth Starliner takes place on June 18, but it seems that Boeing is henceforth condemned to seeing all his attempts suffer setbacks. NASA has indeed confirmed through the voice of Steve Stitch, director of the Commercial Crew Program of the American space agency, that the return of the Starliner was now set for Wednesday June 26, with undocking from the ISS scheduled for the evening of June 25 (United States time). Starliner could thus reach dry land on June 26 at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico.
Steve Stich affirmed during this press briefing that the space agency needs “more time to look at the data, do analysis and make sure we are truly ready to go home”. The problems are the same as going there: several helium leaks have occurred, including several at the very end of the journey leading the capsule to the ISS, not to mention the failure of five of the Starliner’s 28 thrusters.
The latest tests on the Starliner, however, turned out to be rather positive, with the leaks proving less pronounced than when the capsule arrived. As for the thruster tests, they concluded with relative success since 4 of the 5 thrusters in question once again operated normally. On the other hand, the recurring problems with the Starliner will undoubtedly cause delays in putting it into commercial service. “We need to resolve the helium leaks first. » Stich said. “We are not going to decide on another mission like this with the helium leaks […]. “ At best, the Starliner would begin its commercial missions from September 2025. At best.
 the return to Earth of Boeing’s Starliner){kind=link}