Get the latest tech news
Boeing Starliner astronauts finally head home, nine months later
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are finally returning from the International Space Station. But how did the Starliner mission go wrong in the first place? And why have its failings become politicized?
Even now, six months after the troubled spacecraft autonomously undocked from the ISS and landed at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, leaving its crew behind and effectively ending the flight test, the mission is still making headlines. However, at a press conference in early August, Commercial Crew program manager Steve Stich confirmed that, in July, NASA had started working with SpaceX on contingency scenarios for Butch and Suni’s possible return, as they continued to troubleshoot Starliner’s faulty thrusters. Astronauts are accustomed to mission delays and extensions; Frank Rubio had his ISS long-duration stay extended from 6 months to over one year because of a leaky Soyuz capsule, finally returning to Earth after a record-breaking 371 days in space.
Or read this on Endgadget