Boeing’s Starliner touches down at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico at 12:01 a.m. EDT Saturday, Sept. 7, completing the agency’s Crew Flight Test. Photo credit: NASA
At 12:01 a.m. EDT, Boeing’s uncrewed Starliner spacecraft landed at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.
NASA will provide coverage of a post-landing news conference at 1:30 a.m. on NASA+, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website.
The following will participate in the news conference:
Joel Montalbano, deputy associate administrator, Space Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington
Steve Stich, manager, Commercial Crew Program, NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida
Dana Weigel, manager, International Space Station, NASA Johnson
The uncrewed Boeing Starliner spacecraft is less than two minutes from landing on U.S. soil after spending three months at the International Space Station. Starliner is the first American-made orbital crew capsule designed to perform a ground landing as a reusable spacecraft.
The base heat shield separated from the spacecraft to allow the six airbags to inflate and brace for a ground landing. The three main parachutes are also slowing down the uncrewed capsule.
The airbags are filled with nitrogen to cushion Starliner’s landing at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. The NASA and Boeing landing and recovery team is stationed at a holding zone near the landing site. After landing, technicians will use equipment to “sniff” the spacecraft for any lingering hypergolic fluids before approaching Starliner, opening the hatch, and unloading time-critical cargo. The spacecraft will then be transported to Boeing facilities at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft descends under parachutes toward its landing site in New Mexico during its return to Earth on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. Photo credit: NASA
NASA’s coverage continues as Boeing’s uncrewed Starliner spacecraft reaches the final stages of landing.
Around 30,000 feet after atmospheric re-entry, the forward heat shield separated from the spacecraft and the drogue parachutes inflated to help slow down the uncrewed capsule.
About 45 seconds later, at around 8,000 feet, the drogue parachutes separated to make way for three larger main parachutes to deploy, slow down Starliner to 4 miles per hour, and allow an airbag-assisted landing.
Soon, the base heat shield will jettison to expose six airbags that will inflate to assist in a soft landing at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico in just a few minutes at 12 a.m. EDT, Saturday, Sept. 7.
Watch landing coverage on NASA+, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA programming through a variety of platforms including social media.
NASA’s coverage continues on NASA+, the NASA app, and YouTube, and the agency’s website as Boeing’s uncrewed Starliner spacecraft begins entry interface 400,000 feet above Earth.
As the hottest part of re-entry, the spacecraft’s heat shield will reach 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit as it enters the atmosphere.
Starliner is equipped with an ablative heat shield containing a layer of plastic resin that will heat up to gas and carry the heat away from the crew capsule through convection. This process helps keep the temperature inside the capsule around 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Similar heat shields were used on Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo spacecrafts.
The spacecraft is expected to land at approximately 12 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.
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A graphic depicting Boeing Starliner’s spacecraft conducting its deorbit burn as it returns to Earth as part of the agency’s Crew Flight Test on Friday, June 6, 2024. Photo credit: NASA
At 11:18 p.m. EDT, Boeing’s uncrewed Starliner spacecraft completed its deorbit burn as expected over the Pacific Ocean. About two and a half minutes later, the spacecraft’s expendable service module separated. The service module provided propulsion and power leading up to the deorbit burn.
NASA’s coverage continues on NASA+, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website as teams prepare for landing.
The next milestone is in about 15 minutes with entry interface. Starliner will angle itself and its heat shield for re-entry as the spacecraft prepares for a parachute-and-airbag-assisted landing at approximately 12 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.
Starliner is the first American-made orbital crew capsule designed to perform a ground landing as a reusable spacecraft. NASA’s Spaceflight Meteorology Group forecasts a few clouds at 8,000 feet and winds out of 100 degrees around 6 knots, peaking to 8 knots, for tonight’s landing.
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Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is seen during its return to Earth after undocking from the International Space Station at 6:04 p.m. EDT on Friday, June 6, 2024. Photo credit: NASA
NASA’s coverage is underway on NASA+, the NASA app, and YouTube, and the agency’s website as Boeing’s uncrewed Starliner spacecraft prepares for deorbit burn, entry, and landing.
Starliner autonomously undocked from the forward-facing port of the International Space Station’s Harmony module at 6:04 p.m. EDT, and mission managers gave a “go” for the spacecraft to proceed for a deorbit burn.
Starliner’s deorbit burn is expected at 11:17 p.m. EDT and involves the spacecraft firing its larger orbital maneuvering and attitude control thrusters, providing the power necessary to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere.
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The Starliner spacecraft on NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test is pictured docked to the Harmony module’s forward port as the International Space Station orbited 263 miles above the Mediterranean Sea. Photo credit: NASA
A pulsing sound from a speaker in Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft heard by NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore aboard the International Space Station has stopped. The feedback from the speaker was the result of an audio configuration between the space station and Starliner. The space station audio system is complex, allowing multiple spacecraft and modules to be interconnected, and it is common to experience noise and feedback. The crew is asked to contact mission control when they hear sounds originating in the comm system. The speaker feedback Wilmore reported has no technical impact to the crew, Starliner, or station operations, including Starliner’s uncrewed undocking from the station no earlier than Friday, Sept. 6.
NASA astronaut Nick Hague (left) and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov pose for portraits in their flight suits at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California. Credit: SpaceX
NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will launch no earlier than Tuesday, Sept. 24, on the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station. NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson, previously announced as crewmates, are eligible for reassignment on a future mission.
Hague and Gorbunov will fly to the space station as commander and mission specialist, respectively, as part of a two-crew member flight aboard a SpaceX Dragon.
The updated crew complement follows NASA’s decision to return the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test uncrewed and launch Crew-9 with two unoccupied seats. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who launched aboard the Starliner spacecraft in June, will fly home with Hague and Gorbunov in February 2025.
The decision to fly Hague was made by NASA chief astronaut Joe Acaba at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Acaba had to balance flying a NASA crew member with previous spaceflight experience to command the flight, while ensuring NASA maintains an integrated crew with a Roscosmos cosmonaut who can operate their critical systems for continued, safe station operations.
“While we’ve changed crew before for a variety of reasons, downsizing crew for this flight was another tough decision to adjust to given that the crew has trained as a crew of four,” said Acaba. “I have the utmost confidence in all our crew, who have been excellent throughout training for the mission. Zena and Stephanie will continue to assist their crewmates ahead of launch, and they exemplify what it means to be a professional astronaut.”
The agency will share reassignment details for Cardman and Wilson when available.
“I am deeply proud of our entire crew,” said Cardman, “and I am confident Nick and Alex will step into their roles with excellence. All four of us remain dedicated to the success of this mission, and Stephanie and I look forward to flying when the time is right.”
Wilson added, “I know Nick and Alex will do a great job with their work aboard the International Space Station as part of Expedition 72.”
With 203 days logged in space, this will be Hague’s third launch and second mission to the orbiting laboratory. During his first launch in March 2018, Hague and his crewmate, Roscosmos’ Alexey Ovchinin, experienced a rocket booster failure, resulting in an in-flight, post-launch abort, ballistic re-entry, and safe landing in their Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft. Five months later, Hague launched aboard Soyuz MS-12 and served as a flight engineer aboard the space station during Expeditions 59 and 60. Hague conducted three spacewalks to upgrade space station power systems and install a docking adapter for commercial spacecraft. An active-duty colonel in the U.S. Space Force, Hague completed a developmental rotation at the Defense Department, and served as the Space Force’s director of test and evaluation from 2020 to 2022. In August 2022, Hague resumed duties at NASA, working on the Boeing Starliner Program until this flight assignment. Follow @astrohague on X and Instagram.
This will be Gorbunov’s first trip to space and the station. Born in Zheleznogorsk, Kursk region, Russia, he studied engineering with qualifications in spacecraft and upper stages from the Moscow Aviation Institute. Gorbunov graduated from the military department with a specialty in operating and repairing aircraft, helicopters, and aircraft engines. Before his selection as a cosmonaut in 2018, he worked as an engineer for Rocket Space Corp. Energia and supported cargo spacecraft launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
Hague and Gorbonov will become members of the Expedition 72 crew aboard the station. They will join Wilmore, Williams, fellow NASA astronaut Don Pettit, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner conducting scientific research and maintenance activities into the station’s 24th year of continuous human presence.
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is pictured docked to the Harmony module’s forward port at the International Space Station. Photo credit: NASA
NASA and Boeing concluded a detailed Delta-Flight Test Readiness Review on Thursday, polling “go” to proceed with undocking of the uncrewed Starliner spacecraft no earlier than 6:04 p.m. EDT on Friday, Sept. 6, from the International Space Station, pending weather and operational readiness.
After undocking, Starliner will take about six hours to reach the landing zone at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. The spacecraft will touch down about 12:03 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 7, descending under parachutes and with inflated airbags to cushion the impact. Recovery teams at the landing zone will safe and prepare the spacecraft for a return to Boeing’s Starliner factory at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Following NASA’s decision on Aug. 24 to return the Starliner spacecraft uncrewed, mission managers and flight controllers updated elements of the Starliner systems with specific information for this mission that will allow the spacecraft to execute the return. The uncrewed Starliner spacecraft will perform a fully autonomous return with flight controllers at Starliner Mission Control in Houston and at Boeing Mission Control Center in Florida. Teams on the ground are able to remotely command the spacecraft if needed through the necessary maneuvers for a safe undocking, re-entry, and parachute-assisted landing in the southwest United States. NASA will host a media briefing to discuss more details about return operations, and the agency will share more on the briefing schedule and return coverage.
Starliner has previously completed a successful uncrewed entry and landing during two orbital flight tests. During one of the flight tests, the spacecraft also proved it could autonomously undock with the station safely.
As part of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test, agency astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams flew aboard Starliner to the station in June. Wilmore and Williams will remain aboard the orbiting complex as part of the Expedition 71/72 crew through February 2025, when they’ll return with the agency’s Crew-9 mission.
