The Boeing Starliner capsule recently completed its uncrewed test flight, marking a significant milestone in the United States' efforts to enhance its human spaceflight capabilities. The spacecraft, designed to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS), successfully returned to Earth after a series of critical tests that aimed to validate its systems and performance characteristics. This mission, known as Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2), was vital for assessing the capsule's ability to autonomously navigate through various phases of flight, including launch, orbital operations, and re-entry procedures.
The successful return of the Starliner is particularly noteworthy given the challenges faced during its initial test flight in December 2019, which resulted in an incomplete mission due to software issues. By addressing these deficiencies and conducting extensive ground tests prior to OFT-2, Boeing has demonstrated its commitment to ensuring safety and reliability in future crewed missions. The uncrewed nature of this test was essential for gathering data without jeopardizing astronaut safety while still providing insights into potential operational concerns that could arise during crewed flights.
Boeing’s Starliner capsule returned from the International Space Station Friday evening — concluding its nearly three-month stay in space. But it flew back to Earth with an empty cabin, leaving behind two test pilots who must now remain on the station for another five or six months.
The Starliner left its docking port at the space station just after 6 p.m. ET, according to NASA. The capsule spentabout six hours free-flying through orbit as it slowly made its descent toward home.
The roots of the just-completed mission, known as Crew Flight Test (CFT), go back a decade. In 2014, NASA gave SpaceX and Boeing multibillion-dollar contracts to finish work on their astronaut taxis — capsules known as Crew Dragon and Starliner, respectively.
The agency wanted one or both of those vehicles to start flying astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS) by 2017, reestablishing a homegrown orbital human spaceflight capability — something the U.S. had lacked since the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011.
A brief statement from Boeing did not necessarily convey the same level of commitment, though. “I want to recognize the work the Starliner teams did to ensure a successful and safe undocking, deorbit, re-entry and landing,” Nappi said in the statement. “We will review the data and determine the next steps for the program.”
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