THE Boeing’s Starliner capsule which took two astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) in March, will return to Earth this Friday (6), with start of decoupling scheduled for 7pm (Brasília time). The event will be broadcast from 6:45 pm (Brasília time) on the NASA website .
The vehicle is expected to land on the Earth’s surface on Saturday (7) at 1:03 am (Brasília time) at the White Sands Space Port, in the US state of New Mexico.
As Starliner, which launched on March 3, 2024, approached the orbiting laboratory, NASA and Boeing identified helium leaks and problems with the spacecraft’s thrusters. To be on the safe side, the space agency announced on August 24 that Starliner would return to Earth without its crew.
The uncrewed return allows NASA and Boeing to continue collecting test data on Starliner during its flight home, while not putting its initial crew at any more risk than necessary.
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will make the return trip in February 2025 in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, a product of Elon Musk’s company — which has an agreement with the agency to provide commercial transportation to the ISS.
Meet the Crew Dragon, the spacecraft that will “save” astronauts from Starliner
This content was originally published in Watch the return of the Starliner capsule live on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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