Starliner return delayed, astronauts to use SpaceX crew dragon in 2025

NASA has announced that Boeing's first crewed capsule, Starliner, will be detached from the International Space Station (ISS) on 6 September. Astronauts who travelled to space in June and were supposed to spend a week there will not be on board.

According to NASA, the capsule is meant to land using a parachute system at the New Mexico spaceport after a six-hour flight. It will be detached at 23:04 GMT. Landing is planned at White Sands Space Harbor, New Mexico. It is scheduled to take place on 7 September at 05:03 GMT.

Parachutes and airbags will ensure a gentle descent to the surface, and then the capsule will be transported to Boeing's factory at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

According to the latest information from NASA, two astronauts who arrived at the ISS on 6 June via the Boeing spacecraft will be transported back to Earth on the SpaceX Crew Dragon in February 2025. This decision was made last week after the crewed return journey with Starliner was deemed too dangerous. The reason was detecting a helium leak and damage to five of the spacecraft's twenty-eight engines. Astronomers activated two engines just before docking, and they were supposed to stay on the ISS for seven days.

Before the mission began, NASA explained that Starliner could be docked to the ISS for up to forty-five days. American astronauts have been on the station for more than 85 days. This mission is Boeing's first crewed flight test, which has been cancelled twice.

After announcing that the astronauts would return from the ISS only in February 2025, NASA reassured that while they would be there for a long time, up to eight months, astronauts have stayed in space for 12 months in the past.