Boeing Starliner spacecraft lands in New Mexico after aborted mission

NASA hailed the aborted flight as a success, despite its failure to reach the ISS on what was meant to be a final dress rehearsal before a crewed mission.

Touchdown

Images broadcast by NASA showed the spacecraft touching down, cushioned by airbags, after a pre-dawn descent slowed by three large parachutes.

“We had some challenges, but a lot of things did in fact go right,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine told reporters, describing the landing as an “absolute bull’s-eye.”

“We did not make it to the International Space Station. We did not dock, but the spacecraft flew exceptionally well. We’ve got a lot of data to review.”

Importance of the mission

The Starliner capsule was launched Friday from Cape Canaveral in Florida, but shortly after separating from its Atlas V launch rocket, its thrusters failed to activate as planned, preventing it from reaching a high enough orbit.

If the mission was successful, the Starliner, would have spent one week docked at the International Space Station (ISS) before returning to Earth with a soft landing at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. 

The space station orbits at an altitude of about 400 kilometers (250 miles) above sea level. As the craft had burned too much propellant, Boeing and NASA were forced to guide the Starliner back to Earth.

The US has relied on Russia to transport its crews to the ISS since the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011. In 2014, NASA hired Boeing and SpaceX; both companies are already two years behind schedule.

Reviewing the data

“Maybe it’s acceptable to go next step – fly the crew flight test, but we have to go through the data first,” Steve Stich, deputy manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said.

“We tested a majority of the core system of the vehicle… We had a little issue with the timer in the beginning.”

The test flight was a key part of NASA’s plans to end US dependence on Russia for space rides. Its flight troubles also dealt a fresh reputational blow to Boeing, which faces a safety crisis in its commercial air division.

The company is reeling from two fatal crashes of its 737 Max airliner. The crashes, in October 2018 in Indonesia and in March 2019 in Ethiopia, claimed a total 346 lives.

Boeing plans to suspend production of the plane in January.

Also read – Boeing Starliner: SpaceX rival set to launch ISS crew capsule