Boeing Starliner Returns to Earth Without Astronauts

(White Sands Missile Range, NM) -- Boeing's Starliner spacecraft returns to earth without its crew.

On Friday, the unmanned capsule released from the International Space Station and began its six-hour journey home.

The Starliner landed at New Mexico's White Sands Space Harbor late Friday night.

It launched to the ISS back in June with two astronauts aboard in its first crewed test flight.

The mission was expected to last eight days, but mechanical issues kept the craft and astronauts in space for three months.

NASA decided to return the Starliner home without crew due to thruster concerns, though the capsule's thrusters appeared to work fine during undocking.

Before the capsule departed without them, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who flew Starliner to the space station back in June, wished the spacecraft, nicknamed “Calypso” luck on its long-awaited and unexpected journey home.

“It is time to bring Calypso home,” Williams said to mission control Friday evening. “You have got this. We have your backs, and you’ve got this. Bring her back to Earth.”

Those two astronauts will now remain in space until February of 2025.