The Boeing Starliner’s strange test flight is finally returning to Earth, but it’s empty

Metavives September 7, 2024

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft that launched NASA’s Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the International Space Station is pictured docked to the Harmony module’s forward port. This long-duration photograph was taken at night from the orbital complex as it soared 258 miles above western China. — Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft that launched NASA’s Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the International Space Station is pictured docked to the Harmony module’s forward port on Wednesday, July 3, 2024. | Image: NASA

The Starliner is flying home empty after undocking autonomously, while the astronauts it took to the ISS will make a separate trip back to Earth in 2025.

After years of delays, the first crewed flight test of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft launched on June 5th, carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams to the International Space Station for what was supposed to be a short trip. However, after thruster issues and some leaks, their return trip on Starliner was postponed and eventually canceled.

On September 6th at 6:04PM ET, the Starliner spacecraft autonomously undocked from the ISS and began to return home without its crew, who will stay aboard the ISS until they return to Earth with SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission in 2025.

During a press conference in August, NASA Commercial Crew Program manager Steve Stich justified the decision, saying, “…there was just too much uncertainty in the prediction of the thrusters.” Before the spacecraft undocked, NASA traced a series of strange sounds it had been emitting to an “audio configuration between the space station and Starliner.”

Follow along here for all of the updates as Starliner and its crew make their way back to Earth.