Boeing's malfunctioning Starliner lands successfully at New Mexico’s White Sands

WHITE SANDS SPACE HARBOR (New Mexico), Sept 7: Returning from the ISS without crew, Boeing's malfunctioning Starliner landed on earth successfully at 12:02 a.m. Saturday Eastern Time (9:32 a.m. Saturday, IST).

It landed at New Mexico’s White Sands Missile Range as per schedule, being stranded in space docked with ISS for three months rather than a week as planned due to glitches that forced astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore abandon their return by the ship.

Rescue and recovery professionals on the ground in New Mexico awaited an all-clear to approach the spacecraft as it landed. The official touchdown time was 12:01 a.m. ET, Saturday, September 7, according to NASA.

Former NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman, who helped develop Boeing's first crew capsule, told CNN Friday night, the NASA did the right thing by deciding to fly Starliner home without crew (Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore) on board.

“They just weren’t ready to bet someone’s life on it. Because of the uncertainty — the fact they didn’t know exactly what was wrong with (the Starliner spacecraft). … And so far so good, but it’s not been perfect. We had another thruster failure (as it began its final descent),” he said. One of the thrusters petered out.

However, Boeing’s Lauren Brennecke said, "Starliner (nicknamed Calypso) has once again proven herself a safe ride to and from space.”

No Boeing representative would be present at the final updates NASA was to provide at a public address soon after.

Three large parachutes and airbags

In a communication between the Mission Control on the ground and the astronauts left behind in space in the ISS (Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore), Sunita said, “You guys are the best. You are the best.”

Three large parachutes and airbags made the touchdown smooth “back to the desert floor.” The airbags were deployed underbelly on approach to further soften the blow on ground for a dry land instead of splashing down in the ocean as it used to be.

Dry landing was chosen to avoid recovery problems of landing in the sea and damage to aircraft from salt water.

Starliner had thruster problems and helium leaks on the service module of the capsule that holds astronauts preventing a return home. The capsule jettisoned its service module on the way. It was ejected and left to burn in the atmosphere - while entering earth's atmosphere after deorbiting. The glitches were gone!

Starliner astronauts left behind in the ISS which already had seven astronauts onboard, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore will now return to Earth aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule in February next year. They had gone to space in June last just for about ten days but held up because of Starliner glitches. Crew-9 will delist two of its astronauts to accommodate Suni and Wilmore. The two unlucky who will be deboarded are Stephanie Wilson and Zena Cardman.

Thus Boeing's historic first crewed test flight with two NASA astronauts has come to naught and a recovery depends on NASA's mercy!