After three months in space, the crisis-ridden spacecraft “Starliner” is on its way back to Earth. The capsule from the US manufacturer Boeing docked shortly after midnight (CEST) without a crew on board from the International Space Station (ISS) 400 kilometers above the Earth, as live images from the US space agency NASA showed. After six hours, the “Starliner” is expected to touch down in the desert of the US state of New Mexico.
Astronauts Suni Williams and Barry Wilmore should have flown back to Earth with the spacecraft long ago. But an odyssey in space prevented that. The two are still on the ISS after the first manned launch of the “Starliner” in early June, although they were only supposed to spend a week on board.
Stranded on the ISS
NASA boss Bill Nelson justified the decision with safety concerns about sending the “Starliner” back to Earth with a crew. After the launch, technical problems – including with the engines – and helium leaks occurred. Since then, the two astronauts have been stuck on the space station and will now only be brought home next year with an alternative plan. In the next few hours, it will be eagerly awaited whether the “Starliner” will return to Earth without further problems. The experts from Boeing and NASA disagreed about how high the risk to the health of the astronauts on board would have been. Enormous forces act on space capsules when re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere.
SpaceX as a savior in times of need
Meanwhile, Williams and Wilmore are to be brought back to Earth on another spacecraft: NASA has already made two of the four seats available for the two of them on a mission to the ISS on the “Dragon” of the private space company SpaceX, which is scheduled to begin at the end of September. The return flight is not planned until February, however. This means that Williams and Wilmore will probably be in space for a total of more than eight months.
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