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 uncrewed Starliner spacecraft backs away from the International Space Station shortly undocking from the Harmony module. Credit: NASA+
At 6:04 p.m. EDT, Boeing’s uncrewed Starliner spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station. Starliner is headed for a deorbit burn at 11:17 p.m. and a targeted landing at 12 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.
NASA’s coverage will begin at 10:50 p.m. for deorbit burn, entry, and landing on NASA+, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website.
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.
