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Starliner has finally come home, more than three months after it launched on a planned 10-day mission.. Starliner's long space odyssey is over. The Boeing capsule, named Calypso, returned to Earth early this morning (Sept. 7), touching down in the New Mexico desert at 12:01 a.m. EDT (0401 GMT; 11:01 p.m. local time on Sept. 6). "Great landing of Calyspo!" NASA astronaut Suni Williams said on the agency's webcast. "I don't think that could have gone better." The landing was long-delayed, coming more than three months into an orbital mission originally expected to last about 10 days. And, while Starliner...

Sept. 5 (UPI) -- The beleaguered Boeing Starliner spacecraft that took two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station will attempt to make its uncrewed return to Earth on Friday evening, the company has announced. NASA on Thursday issued a timeline and a set of criteria for the Starliner's departure from the ISS and return to Earth. The space capsule has faced a host of issues since well before its launch, and continued to experience problems even after arriving at the ISS, which ultimately culminated in Boeing making a deal with competitor SpaceX to bring the astronauts back home in...

The good news is that Boeing was able to update the automated flight software on its troubled Starliner space capsule, allowing NASA to return it unmanned to Earth no sooner than Friday. The bad news — or at least the serious question — is whether Starliner will ever fly again. NASA decided last week not to fly astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams home on board the same ship they flew to ISS on due to safety concerns about the service module's malfunctioning thrusters. While an astronaut is sometimes scheduled in advance to return to Earth on board a different...

NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have raised alarms about a series of "strange noises" coming from the malfunctioning Starliner capsule as of August 1, 2024. With a long way still to go before making it back to Earth, the veteran astronauts, currently residing on the International Space Station (ISS), are reportedly encountering a ‘pulsing noise, almost like a sonar ping,’ according to the recording, first shared by a meteorologist named Rob Dale.

Boeing's troubled Starliner spacecraft is set to return to Earth just over a week from now with managers setting a date of no earlier than September 6 for undocking from the International Space Station (ISS) and September 7 to land at White Sands in New Mexico. For the Starliner's crew, however, the stay in space will be far from over as the duo will join the Crew-9 mission and return to Earth around February 2025, once the Crew-9 capsule arrives at the ISS. After Starliner departs and until Crew-9 arrives, the only emergency escape system available to the Starliner crew,...

NASA on Friday cut two astronauts from the next crew to make room on the return trip for the two stuck at the International Space Station. NASA’s Nick Hague and Russian Aleksandr Gorbunov will launch in September aboard a SpaceX rocket for the orbiting laboratory. The duo will return with Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore in February. NASA decided it’s too risky for Williams and Wilmore to fly home in their Boeing Starliner capsule, marred by thruster troubles and helium leaks. Bumped from the SpaceX flight: NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson. NASA said they could fly on future...

NASA and Boeing teams have completed a comprehensive Delta-Flight Test Readiness Review, giving the green light for the uncrewed CST-100 Starliner spacecraft to undock from the International Space Station. The undocking is scheduled for no earlier than 6:04 p.m. EDT on Friday, Sept. 6, depending on weather and operational readiness. Once Starliner undocks, it will take approximately six hours to reach its designated landing site at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. The spacecraft is expected to land around 12:03 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 7, using parachutes and inflated airbags to soften the impact. Recovery teams at White Sands...

Two astronauts who flew to the International Space Station on Boeing's Starliner spacecraft will return to Earth next year on a SpaceX vehicle in yet another humiliating blow to Boeing's reputation.NASA's Plan B: Why SpaceX Is Completing Boeing's Starliner Mission | 6:40The Wall Street Journal | 5.53M subscribers | 389,477 views | August 24, 2024

Boeing employees are “humiliated” after NASA announced that two astronauts who have been stranded on the International Space Station by the company’s troubled Starliner space capsule will have to be rescued by Elon Musk’s upstart rival SpaceX, one worker told The Post. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams — who went up the ISS in June for what was supposed to be an 8-day mission — will have to wait another six months until a SpaceX Crew Dragon space craft can carry them safely home because their original ride is leaking helium and has problems with its thrusters. The Florida-based staffer...

Boeing Starliner crewmembers Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have been stranded aboard the International Space Station since June, will remain there until February, NASA administrators announced Saturday. In weighing whether to allow them to try to return to Earth aboard their malfunctioning Starliner craft or wait until the completion of the upcoming SpaceX Crew-9 Dragon mission in February, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the agency opted for the latter due to safety reasons. "Butch and Suni will return with Crew-9 next February," he announced during a televised news conference at Johnson Space Center in Houston, adding that the glitchy...

Blue Origin didn't admit to these mishaps, of course, but every organization has its leaks! What impact will this have on NASA Artemis and HLS? Will we ever get transparency from Jeff Bezos?Two Blue Origin New Glenn rocket stages wrecked in factory mishaps! Will this delay NASA missions? | 11:07The Angry Astronaut | 144K subscribers | 71,442 views | August 22, 2024

NASA needs to decide by the end of August whether to return two astronauts to Earth aboard Boeing's Starliner, which flew them to the International Space Station (ISS), or bring them home on a SpaceX craft, officials said Wednesday. NASA astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams blasted off for the ISS on Starliner on June 5 for what was meant to be an eight-day stay. But their return has been delayed by thruster malfunctions that came to light during the first crewed mission to the ISS by the Boeing spacecraft. NASA officials, at a press conference on Wednesday,...

NASA is grappling with a critical decision regarding the return of astronauts Barry Wilmore and Suni Williams from the International Space Station (ISS) amid concerns over the Boeing Starliner’s autonomous undocking capabilities and the spacecraft’s potential to damage one of only two docking ports on the space station. ... plagued by multiple technical issues, significantly extending the originally planned eight-day mission. As NASA deliberates on the best course of action for bringing the astronauts home, a surprising revelation has emerged regarding the Starliner’s flight software. ... the current flight software onboard the Starliner lacks the ability to perform an automated...

Anyone gonna ask Space Council Chair Kamala Harris about the 2 American astronauts still stranded in space?

NASA astronauts stranded due to Boeing's faulty Starliner received horrifying news on Wednesday about their return mission to Earth. Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have already been trapped on the International Space Station (ISS) for more than two months, may not come back to Earth until February 2025. The US space agency revealed a contingency plan that would launch a two-person crew on SpaceX's Crew-9 mission in September, but still wouldn't bring the crew home until months later. The announcement is another highly embarrassing blow for the embattled Boeing, which is dealing with a spate of issues plaguing its...

The two astronauts who have already been stuck in space for more than 60 days may have to wait until early 2025 before they can return to Earth — following a trip to the International Space Station that was supposed to last just eight days. NASA also acknowledged that the astronauts, who arrived on the maiden voyage of the Boeing Starliner spacecraft, may have to be rescued by the rival SpaceX CrewDragon, though that vessel won’t be ready until February. On Wednesday, NASA announced another delay in bringing home Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams during a news conference, with the...

'This adjustment allows more time for mission managers to finalize return planning for the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test currently docked to the orbiting laboratory.' ================================================================== SpaceX's next astronaut mission won't get off the ground this month after all. Crew-9, SpaceX's ninth operational flight to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA, had been targeted to lift off on Aug. 18. But it has been pushed back to no earlier than Sept. 24, the agency announced today (Aug. 6). "This adjustment allows more time for mission managers to finalize return planning for the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test currently docked...

SpaceX has delayed this month's Crew-9 astronaut launch to Sept. 24, to accommodate a traffic jam at the International Space Station as Boeing's Starliner remains stalled at the orbiting laboratory. SpaceX was scheduled to launch its ninth operational flight for NASA with four astronauts to the ISS on Aug. 18, before the space agency announced the delay Monday. "This adjustment allows more time for mission managers to finalize return planning for the agency's Boeing Crew Flight Test currently docked to the orbiting laboratory," NASA said. Boeing's new Starliner capsule launched June 5, with NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore...

Unofficial reports of 10 antihelium nuclei smacking into the International Space Station have inspired theoretical physicists to speculate beyond our current models in search of an explanation. While a small handful of cosmic particles might appear trivial, the signature of the antihelium shower is strange enough for researchers to treat the event like a rainstorm in a desert. In their recently published analysis, scientists from the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Canada and Johns Hopkins University in the US make a case for considering physics outside of the currently accepted Standard Model, going as far as suggesting dark matter...

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Saturday that its rival Boeing Co. is awarded government contracts in the space segment owing to their "armies of lobbyists" despite safety concerns around its commercial plane segment..."They have armies of lobbyists," Musk wrote in response to an X user who wondered why Boeing is awarded big contracts from the government despite the issues flagged with its passenger flight segment."Not sure why Boeing (given their track record with passenger flights) is given such contracts when SpaceX (given their track record with launches) is just vastly superior," Dhaval Shroff wrote. Shroff is also an employee...