After spending a little less than a week at the space station, Boeing’s new passenger spacecraft, the CST-100 Starliner, returned to Earth this afternoon, landing intact with the help of parachutes and airbags in the New Mexico desert. The successful touchdown brings an end to a crucial test flight for Starliner, one that showcased the vehicle’s ability to launch to space, dock with the station, and then return home safely.

Shaped like a gumdrop, Boeing’s Starliner capsule was built in partnership with NASA in order to launch the agency’s astronauts to and from the International Space Station, or ISS. The mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which challenged private companies with creating space taxis to carry people to low Earth orbit. But before NASA will let its personnel ride on the vehicle, the space agency wanted Starliner to demonstrate that it could go through all the motions of a trip to the ISS — without people on board.

With today’s landing, that uncrewed test flight — called OFT-2 — has come to an end, with Starliner performing every major step it was meant to accomplish. The capsule successfully launched to orbit on May 19th, riding to space on top of an Atlas V rocket; it approached and docked with the ISS on May 20th; and it undocked with the space station this afternoon before heading home. It wasn’t a completely smooth flight, though. Throughout the mission, Starliner encountered a number of issues with its various thrusters, tiny engines used to maneuver and propel the vehicle through space. None of those problems proved to be fatal for the flight, though, and Starliner was able to complete OFT-2 as planned.

It’s also been a bumpy road getting to this launch. The name of this test flight, OFT-2, actually stands for Orbital Flight Test-2. That’s because it’s a do-over of the same test flight that Boeing tried to perform back in 2019. In December of that year, Boeing launched Starliner without a crew on board, sending it to space on another Atlas V rocket. But a software glitch on Starliner caused the capsule to fire its thrusters incorrectly after it separated from the rocket, and ultimately, the spacecraft got into the wrong orbit. The issue prevented Starliner from reaching the space station, and Boeing was not able to show the spacecraft’s ability to dock with the ISS. Boeing had to bring the spacecraft home early and was able to land the capsule in White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico — the same location Starliner landed today.

Boeing attempted to try again to launch Starliner last summer, but just hours before takeoff, the company halted the countdown after finding that more than a dozen propellant valves were sticking and not opening properly. It took Boeing up until now to fix the issues, and the company says it’s possible that a redesign of the valves may happen in the future. But now, two and a half years after the original botched flight, Starliner has finally shown that it can launch and autonomously dock with the ISS — a key feature it will have to perform over and over again when people are on board.

Landing is also a critical task for Starliner in order to bring passengers home safely. To demonstrate those capabilities for this flight, the capsule undocked with the ISS at 2:36PM ET this afternoon, slowly flying around the station and then distancing itself from the orbiting lab. At 6:05PM ET, Starliner used its onboard thrusters to slow itself down and take itself out of orbit, putting it on course with Earth’s surface. Shortly after, the vehicle plunged through the planet’s atmosphere, experiencing temperatures of up to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Starliner then used a series of parachutes to slow its fall before landing in White Sands on top of airbags to help cushion the touchdown. It marked the second successful landing for Starliner, as Boeing already showcased the vehicle’s landing during its first botched test flight in 2019.

“That touchdown coming at 5:49pm Central Time, almost exactly six days into the mission,” NASA’s Brandi Dean, a NASA communications officer, said on a livestream of the landing. “Just a beautiful touchdown in White Sands this evening.”

There was some slight concern about this landing, however, as Starliner experienced multiple problems with its thrusters throughout the flight. When the capsule launched to space last week, two of the 12 thrusters Starliner uses to insert itself into the right orbit failed. Boeing said drops in chamber pressure caused the thrusters to cut off early. Ultimately, Starliner’s flight control system was able to redirect to a backup thruster in time, and the capsule got into orbit as planned. However, those same thrusters were needed to take Starliner out of orbit, but they seemed to work as planned despite the two failed thrusters.

There were other bugs throughout the flight, too. A couple of different smaller thrusters, used to maneuver Starliner during docking, also failed due to low chamber pressure. However, it didn’t prevent the capsule from attaching to the ISS. “We have a lot of redundancy that really didn’t affect the rendezvous operations at all,” Steve Stich, NASA’s program manager for the Commercial Crew Program, said during a press conference after docking. And, on top of all of that, the Boeing team noticed that some of Starliner’s thermal systems used to cool the spacecraft showed extra cold temperatures, and the engineering team had to manage that during the docking.

Starliner still accomplished many of its goals while docked with the ISS. Astronauts on board the ISS opened Starliner’s hatch this weekend, entered the vehicle, and retrieved cargo brought to the station. The capsule has brought about 600 pounds of cargo back to Earth, as well as Rosie the Rocketeer, a mannequin that rode along inside Starliner to simulate what it’ll be like when humans ride on board.

Now, with Starliner back on Earth, there’s plenty of work left to do. Over the coming months, NASA and Boeing will study the failures that occurred on this flight and determine if Starliner is ready to carry people to space during a test flight called CFT, for Crewed Flight Test, which could occur by the end of the year. That will be a huge milestone for Boeing, which has fallen far behind NASA’s other Commercial Crew provider, SpaceX. SpaceX has already flown five crewed flights to the station for NASA on its Crew Dragon capsule, which carried its first passengers in 2020.

But if Starliner is cleared to fly people, NASA will finally have what it always wanted: two different American companies capable of taking agency astronauts to orbit.

This evening, Boeing’s new passenger spacecraft, the CST-100 Starliner, successfully docked itself to the International Space Station — demonstrating that the vehicle can potentially bring humans to the ISS in the future. It’s a crucial capability that Starliner has finally validated in space after years of delays and failures.

Starliner is in the midst of a key test flight for NASA called OFT-2, for Orbital Flight Test-2. The capsule, developed by Boeing for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, was made to transport NASA’s astronauts to and from the space station. But before anyone climbs on board, NASA tasked Boeing with conducting an uncrewed flight demonstration of Starliner to show that the capsule can hit all of the major milestones it’ll need to hit when it is carrying passengers.

Boeing has struggled to showcase Starliner’s ability until now. This mission is called OFT-2 since it’s technically a do-over of a mission that Boeing attempted back in 2019, called OFT. During that flight, Starliner launched to space as planned, but a software glitch prevented the capsule from getting in the right orbit it needed to reach to rendezvous with the ISS. Boeing had to bring the vehicle home early, and the company never demonstrated Starliner’s ability to dock with the ISS.

Now, roughly two and a half years later, Starliner has finally shown what it was designed to do. Using a series of sensors, the capsule autonomously guided itself onto an open docking port on the space station. “Boeing Starliner spacecraft completes its historic first docking to the International Space Station opening a new avenue of access for crews to the orbiting laboratory,” Steve Siceloff, a communications representative for Boeing, said during the livestream of the docking. Docking occurred a little over an hour behind schedule, due to some issues with Starliner’s graphics and docking ring, which were resolved ahead of the docking.

Image: NASA TV

There was some concern about Starliner’s ability to dock with the space station after Boeing revealed some issues with the capsule’s thrusters yesterday. At 6:54PM ET, Starliner successfully launched to space on top of an Atlas V rocket, built and operated by the United Launch Alliance. Once Starliner separated from the Atlas V, it had to fire its own thrusters to insert itself into the proper orbit for reaching the space station. However, after that maneuver took place, Boeing and NASA revealed that two of the 12 thrusters Starliner uses for the procedure failed and cut off too early. The capsule’s flight control system was able to kick in and rerouted to a working thruster, which helped get Starliner into a stable orbit.

Ultimately, NASA and Boeing claimed that the issue should not impact the rest of Starliner’s mission. “There’s really no need to resolve them,” Steve Stich, NASA’s program manager for the Commercial Crew Program, said in a press conference after the flight. “But I know what the teams will do, and what we always do is we’ll go look at the data, try to understand what happened.” Today, Boeing revealed that a drop in chamber pressure had caused the early cutoff of the thruster, but that system behaved normally during follow-up burns of the thrusters. And with redundancies on the spacecraft, the issue “does not pose a risk to the rest of the flight test,” according to Boeing.

Boeing also noted today that the Starliner team is investigating some weird behavior of a “thermal cooling loop” but said that temperatures are stable on the spacecraft.

Now, with Starliner docked to the space station, it’ll stick around for the next four to five days. Tomorrow morning, the astronauts already on board the ISS will open the hatch to the vehicle and retrieve some cargo that’s packed inside. Also inside Starliner is a mannequin called Rosie the Rocketeer, simulating what it would be like for a human to ride inside the vehicle.

After its brief stay on the ISS, Starliner will detach from the ISS and distance itself from the station for its return home. The capsule will use its thrusters to take itself out of orbit and put it on course for Earth. The two thrusters that failed are the same kind used for this deorbit maneuver, but NASA and Boeing did not seem concerned. “We’ll just have to see if we can recover the thrusters,” Stich said. He also noted that the working thrusters could be used and that Boeing has the option to use a different set of thrusters to perform the task if needed. “So there’s plenty of redundancy in the spacecraft.”

For now, the Starliner team is celebrating their big milestone. “Today marks a great milestone towards providing additional commercial access to low Earth orbit, sustaining the ISS and enabling NASA’s goal of returning humans to the Moon and eventually to Mars,” NASA astronaut Bob Hines, currently on board the space station, said after the docking. “Great accomplishments in human spaceflight are long remembered by history. Today will be no different.”

Thursday afternoon, Boeing is slated to launch its passenger spacecraft, the CST-100 Starliner, to the International Space Station for the second time without people on board. The mission, called OFT-2, is part of an elaborate dress rehearsal that will help pave the way for people to ride on the vehicle in the future.

Today’s mission is a critical milestone as Boeing works to certify the vehicle for human spaceflight. Boeing developed Starliner as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, an initiative that tasked private companies with developing spacecraft capable of carrying NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station. NASA’s other Commercial Crew provider, SpaceX, is already ferrying astronauts to the ISS on a regular basis. But having Boeing’s Starliner in the mix will give NASA what it likes to call “dissimilar redundancy” — two different transportation options in case one goes out of commission.

This is Boeing’s second attempt at the test flight after a previous effort in 2019. In the first attempt, a series of software issues and a communications blackout prevented the vehicle from getting into the proper orbit, and Boeing had to bring Starliner home early. Another planned launch last summer got scrubbed just hours before liftoff due to some sticky propellant valves. Now, after years of work to remedy these issues, Boeing is ready to try again.

What time does Starliner take off?

Takeoff is scheduled for 6:54PM ET out of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Scheduled time: New York: 6:54PM / San Francisco: 3:54PM / London: 11:54PM / Berlin: 12:54AM / Moscow: 1:54AM / New Delhi: 4:24AM / Beijing: 6:54AM / Tokyo: 7:54AM / Melbourne: 8:54AM

How can I watch the flight?

NASA plans to livestream coverage of the flight on its dedicated channel NASA TV, which can be found on YouTube and NASA’s website. Coverage begins at 6PM ET.

What can I expect from the mission?

OFT-2 should follow the basic structure of a flight to the International Space Station as if people were riding on board. In the interest of realism, engineers have placed a mannequin called Rosie the Rocketeer (named as an homage to Rosie the Riveter) inside the Starliner capsule. The mannequin is outfitted in the same blue pressure suit that future Starliner passengers will wear and is surrounded by a suite of sensors that will collect data about the flight. This is actually Rosie’s second flight, as the mannequin also rode along for the original OFT mission back in 2019.

“We’re also very, very jealous because this is human spaceflight, and Rosie the mannequin is the one that gets to take the trip instead of us,” said NASA astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore, one of the future flyers of Starliner, during a press conference.

Image: Boeing

Starliner takes off on top of an Atlas V rocket, manufactured and operated by the United Launch Alliance. After takeoff, the rocket will spend the next 15 minutes propelling the capsule to space. Following that initial ascent, Starliner will separate from the rocket. But its job won’t be done yet. At roughly 31 minutes following takeoff, Starliner will fire a series of four onboard thrusters to put itself into the right orbit needed for reaching the International Space Station. It was this maneuver that went awry back in 2019, so all eyes will be watching during this process.

Once Starliner achieves the planned orbit, the capsule will do a few demonstrations as it approaches the station on Friday, testing out sensors on the spacecraft and showing the spacecraft can halt on command as it gets closer to the ISS. But the biggest demonstration of all will come when Starliner attempts to dock with the International Space Station. Like SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, Starliner is equipped with an automatic docking system designed to autonomously maneuver the capsule onto an open docking port on the outside of the ISS.

Image: Boeing

The docking process is essential for Starliner’s mission, as it’s how future astronauts will actually reach the space station. Boeing also wasn’t able to demonstrate docking in its 2019 launch, and both the company and NASA are very keen on seeing it happen this time.

“Of course the whole mission is of interest to us, and we will learn, but the areas that we are most looking at because we haven’t exercised them yet are certainly the docking with the station,” Michelle Parker, Boeing vice president and deputy general manager of space and launch, said during a press conference.

Docking is currently scheduled to take place on Friday, May 20th at 7:10PM ET, with NASA coverage beginning at 3PM ET. The crew already on board the ISS will monitor the capsule’s approach. Once Starliner is attached, they’ll open the hatch to the vehicle on Saturday, May 21st, which is scheduled for 11:45AM ET. The astronauts will retrieve some cargo packed inside Starliner and put additional cargo back inside to be returned to Earth.

Starliner will camp out on the ISS for four to five days before it undocks and begins its journey home. Starliner will fly around the station while backing itself away from the ISS and position itself in a specific point above the Pacific Ocean. Then the craft will fire its thrusters again, taking itself out of orbit and putting itself on course toward the surface. Unlike SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, Starliner is designed to land on solid ground using a combination of parachutes and airbags to cushion its touchdown. Boeing has five different locations in the US where Starliner could potentially touch down, including White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico and the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah.

Starliner’s future astronauts include Wilmore, Mike Fincke, and Sunita Williams, all of whom will be watching the various milestones of the missions from Boeing mission control and other areas here on Earth. Depending on how this test flight goes, NASA may soon finalize the crew for Starliner’s first crewed test flight, called CFT.

But for now, the focus is on OFT-2. “We wouldn’t be here right now if we weren’t confident — confident — that this would be a successful mission,” Wilmore said.

Nearly two and a half years after its first launch didn’t go to plan, Boeing’s new passenger spacecraft, the CST-100 Starliner, successfully launched to space this afternoon, reaching the right orbit it needed to achieve to rendezvous with the International Space Station tomorrow evening. The successful launch marks the beginning of a crucial test flight for Starliner that will play out over the next week in space, one that will help demonstrate if the capsule is capable of carrying humans to space one day.

Starliner is a private spacecraft that Boeing developed in partnership with NASA, primarily to help transport the agency’s astronauts to and from the International Space Station in low Earth orbit. The capsule is one of two vehicles, along with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, that NASA helped to fund in order to transition space transportation from the government to commercial companies. But before NASA’s astronauts can ride Starliner, the space agency wants Boeing to demonstrate the capsule can perform all of the tasks of a normal spaceflight mission without a crew on board.

That’s what today’s flight is designed to do, but it’s been a bumpy road to reach this point. In fact, this mission is a redo. Boeing attempted the same uncrewed Starliner flight back in December of 2019, but that mission — called OFT — suffered a series of software glitches. The capsule never made it to the International Space Station, and Boeing had to bring Starliner home early, failing to demonstrate its ability to dock with the ISS. Boeing agreed to redo the flight for NASA and got close to launching again last summer. But just hours before liftoff, Boeing halted the flight after discovering some propellant valves that weren’t working properly. The company had to bring Starliner back into the factory to address the issue.

Now, Starliner is finally in orbit where it’s supposed to be. “We have a good orbital insertion burn,” Josh Barrett, a communications representative for Boeing, said during the launch livestream. “Starliner is in a stable, circular orbit on its way to the International Space Station.”

But it still has a lot to prove ahead. Next, it will need to show it can automatically dock with the International Space Station, using its onboard sensors to guide itself onto an open docking port. Then it will need to undock and come home, safely landing back on Earth. So while Starliner has seen success today, the work has just begun.

Still, Boeing has shown that it has seemingly overcome the problems it experienced back in 2019. Perhaps the biggest nail-biter moment today occurred about 31 minutes after launch, when Starliner burned a suite of onboard thrusters to put itself into its final orbit. Starliner launches to space on top of an Atlas V rocket, operated by the United Launch Alliance, but its work isn’t done when it separates from the booster. Four thrusters on Starliner must burn for less than a minute to get the capsule in the correct orbit. During the 2019 flight, a software glitch made Starliner think it was the wrong time of day, causing the capsule to incorrectly fire its thrusters. As a result, Starliner expended too much propellant and didn’t get into the right orbit it needed to reach the ISS.

Today, the thruster firing seemed to go well initially, and Starliner is in its intended orbit. However, after the flight, Boeing revealed that two thrusters actually failed during the orbital insertion, shutting down earlier than intended. The first shut down after one second, and the flight control system rerouted to a second thruster nearby. However, that one also shut down early after just 25 seconds, and the system had to reroute to a third thruster, which worked as intended. All in all, it didn’t affect Starliner’s ability to reach its planned orbit. Boeing is studying the issue, though the company and NASA claim the failed thrusters should not impact Starliner’s ability to perform the rest of its mission.

“We’ll go look at the data, try to understand what happened,” Steve Stich, the program manager for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said during a press conference after the flight. “And then from a redundancy perspective, can we recover those thrusters?” Starliner will use its thrusters again to perform burns to modify its orbit as it approaches the station and to also take the capsule out of orbit on its return to Earth. Ten of the 12 thrusters Starliner needs are working, according to Boeing.

Boeing did not seem to have any trouble with its propellant valves this time, which caused the company to scrub its last launch back in August of 2021. Before this flight, Boeing replaced the valves and added a sealant to prevent moisture from entering them and causing problems.

Image: Boeing

Now, Starliner will spend roughly the next day in space, raising its orbit gradually, before attempting to dock with the ISS at 7:10PM ET on Friday. Crew members on board the space station will monitor the capsule’s approach. If that’s successful, then they’ll open the hatch to Starliner on Saturday, retrieving some cargo that’s packed inside. Also riding inside Starliner is a mannequin called Rosie the Rocketeer, as well as sensors helping to collect data to determine how the flight will be for future passengers. After four to five days docked at the ISS, Starliner will undock and then return home, landing somewhere on Earth at one of five possible sites — including White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

Depending on how this mission goes, then it will be up to NASA and Boeing to prepare Starliner for human spaceflight, performing a test mission with people on board called CFT, for Crewed Flight Test. While NASA has selected a group of astronauts who could fly on the mission, the agency said it would finalize the first to crew on Starliner by late summer.

And there’s likely still a long road ahead before that can happen. Last week, a NASA safety panel noted that the process of certifying the parachutes needed to land Starliner is lagging. Additionally, Boeing recently noted that it’s possible the company will redesign the valves that gave the company trouble last year. If that does happen, it could take longer for NASA to certify Starliner for carrying people. And the safety panel cautioned against rushing to do so.

“The panel is pleased that from all indications, there’s no sense of needing to rush to CFT,” Dave West, a member of NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, said during the meeting. “The view that was consistently expressed to us is that the program will proceed to CFT when, and only when, they’re ready.”

The panel also noted that the best way to prepare for CFT was for this current flight to go well. The next week will decide if that happens.

Update May 19th, 9:40PM ET: This story was updated to include information from a post-launch press conference, detailing a thruster issue during flight.