Boeing’s beleaguered Starliner returned to Earth empty Saturday after NASA deemed it too risky to bring home the astronauts who rode the spaceship up to the International Space Station.
After years of delays, Starliner launched in June for what was meant to be a roughly weeklong test mission — a final shakedown before it could be certified to ferry crew to and from the orbital laboratory.
But unexpected thruster malfunctions and helium leaks on its way up derailed those plans, and NASA ultimately decided it was safer to bring Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams back on a rival SpaceX Crew Dragon — though they’ll have to wait until February 2025.
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