Boeing's Starliner spaceship finally returning to Earth without astronauts

Boeings problemplagued Starliner is set to finally depart the International Space Station ISS on Friday returning to Earth without astronauts after NASA deemed the risk too greatThe centuryold aerospace giants reputation has taken a hammering over thruster malfunctions and helium leaks its spaceship encountered on its way up to the orbital outpost in June and the US space agencys subsequent decision to fly its crew back on a rival SpaceX Crew Dragon next yearStarliner will autonomously undock from the space station around 604 pm Eastern Time 2204 GMT landing at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico at approximately 0403 GMTNASA opted to bring the ship home without astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams despite Boeings assurances of a safe flightThe company carried out extensive ground testing that aimed to replicate the technical hitches the spaceship had experienced on its ascent and devised plans to prevent more problemsIn the end however Boeing could not convince NASA it could be trusted to bring back the pair who were originally meant to stay on the ISS for roughly a week as they tested out Starliner but will now remain there until FebruaryBoeing believed in the model that they had created that tried to predict the thruster degradation for the rest of the flight Steve Stich program manager for NASAs Commercial Crew Program told reporters this weekBut the NASA team due to the uncertainty in the modeling could not get comfortable with that he added characterizing the mood during meetings as tenseCertification decisions to comeAfter undocking Starliner will perform a powerful breakout burn that will shoot it well clear of the station to prevent any chance of a collision a maneuver that would have been unnecessary if it had crew aboard who could take manual control of the ship if neededOverall the expectation is that Starliner will successfully carry out its parachute and airbagassisted landing just as it has during two previous uncrewed tests in 2019 and 2022But ground teams will be closely studying all aspects of its performance particularly its troublesome thrusters during the crucial deorbit burn that brings the spacecraft back through Earths atmosphereStich emphasized that NASA was focused on completing the immediate tasks at handWhen we do that wellhave a better understanding of when can we certify the vehicle and when can we resume flights he saidNASA awarded Boeing and SpaceX multibilliondollar contracts a decade ago to develop spacecraft to ferry astronauts to and from the ISS following the retirement of the Space ShuttleElon Musks SpaceX however beat Boeing to the punch successfully flying dozens of astronauts since 2020Also Read Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore stuck in space How can it affect their health Experts explainThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever