New Mexico

Uncrewed Boeing Starliner lands safely in New Mexico

Published

1 year ago

September 7, 2024

Uncrewed Boeing Starliner lands safely in New Mexico

Sept. 6 (UPI) — The uncrewed Boeing Starliner successfully landed in New Mexico late Friday after departing six hours earlier from the International Space Station.

The capsule left behind two astronauts — Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams — who must now remain in the station until February for a return home on a SpaceX capsule. NASA decided problems with Starliner’s thrusters and leaking helium made it too risky of a return with humans.

Starliner landed at White Sands Space Harbor at 10:01 p.m. MDT. Ground crews welcomed the capsule with plans to return it to Florida where it launched on June 6.

Boeing and NASA teams work around NASA's Boeing Starliner spacecraft after it landed uncrewed on Friday at White Sands, N.M. NASA Photo by Aubrey Gemignani/UPI — Boeing and NASA teams work around NASA’s Boeing Starliner spacecraft after it landed uncrewed on Friday at White Sands, N.M. NASA Photo by Aubrey Gemignani/UPI

The autonomous undocking from the ISS was carried out as scheduled at 4:04 p.m. MDT after the craft was unhooked from the the forward module of the station. It slowly backed away while executing a series of 12 “breakout burns” over a 5-minute span, driving it farther away from the station while flying over central China.

The Starliner oriented itself as it plunged into the Earth’s atmosphere while still traveling at more than 17,000 miles per hour. The atmosphere was more than 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

Boeing and NASA teams unload cargo from NASA's Boeing Starliner spacecraft after it landed uncrewed at White Sands Missile Range's Space Harbor, on Frida. NASA Photo by Aubrey Gemignani/UPI — Boeing and NASA teams unload cargo from NASA’s Boeing Starliner spacecraft after it landed uncrewed at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor, on Frida. NASA Photo by Aubrey Gemignani/UPI

Three parachutes and thrusters slowed the craft and airbags were deployed.

Boeing is hoping to earn certification for future flights for NASA. NASA wants to rely on another company than Space-X and Russia’s Soyuz for Space Station missions.

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft descends under parachutes toward its landing site in New Mexico during its return to Earth on Friday night. Photo by NASA/UPI — Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft descends under parachutes toward its landing site in New Mexico during its return to Earth on Friday night. Photo by NASA/UPI

Starliner is the first U.S-made capsule to land on the ground instead of splashing down in the ocean.

“It’s important to remember this was a test mission,” Joel Montalbano, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for space operations, said at a news conference after Starliner had landed.

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft is seen during its return to Earth after undocking from the International Space Station at 6:04 p.m. EDT on Friday. Photo by NASA/UPI — Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is seen during its return to Earth after undocking from the International Space Station at 6:04 p.m. EDT on Friday. Photo by NASA/UPI

Boeing and NASA teams on Thursday participated in a dress rehearsal to prepare for the planned landing of the uncrewed Boeing Starliner spacecraft at White Sands, N.M. The craft is scheduled to land at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbors shortly after midnight on Saturday. Photo by Aubrey Gemignani/NASA

“I want to recognize the work the Starliner teams did to ensure a successful and safe undocking, deorbit, reentry and landing,” Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager of Boeing’s Commercial Crew Program, said. “We will review the data and determine the next steps for the program.”

NASA determined that the capsule’s propulsion system appeared stable, but the thruster issues posed too much of a risk for Starliner to return with a crew.

“If we’d had a model that would have predicted what we saw tonight perfectly, yeah, it looks like an easy decision to go say we could have had a crewed flight – but we didn’t have that,” Stitch said.

“From a human perspective, all of us feel happy about the successful landing,” he said. “But then there’s a piece of us, all of us, that we wish it would have been the way we had planned it. We had planned to have the mission land with Butch and Suni on board.”

Its flight path went over parts of northern Mexico and southwestern New Mexico, making it visible in the night sky over those areas depending on cloud cover.

On June 5, the Boeing spacecraft took off on its first crewed flight, transporting NASA Wilmore and Williams to the space station. However, as it approached the orbiting laboratory, NASA and Boeing identified helium leaks and noted malfunctions with its reaction control thrusters.

Five of Starliner’s 28 “reaction control system” thrusters abruptly stopped working en route to the space station. Four were recovered and at least one stayed out of service for the entire mission.

NASA announced last month that out of concerns for the safety of Wilmore and Williams, they will remain aboard the ISS until February while Starliner is autonomously returned to Earth without a crew.

Wilmore and Williams are now scheduled to return home aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft with two other crew members assigned to NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission.

“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.”

Its service module up during re-entry over the southern Pacific Ocean, while its heat shield was jettisoned at approximately 30,000 feet, exposing a series of drags and parachutes.

Instead, the thruster issues became the latest major setback for Boeing’s Starliner program, which even before the launch was more than $1.5 billion over budget and years behind schedule. An uncrewed test flight to the space station, which NASA required of Boeing before its spacecraft could carry astronauts, also went awry the first time, and the company had to repeat it in 2022.

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New Mexico

New Mexico veteran cemetery coming to Carlsbad via $8M in federal funds – Carlsbad Current-Argus

Published

4 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

New Mexico veteran cemetery coming to Carlsbad via M in federal funds – Carlsbad Current-Argus

Mack Dyer salutes the American Flag during a ceremony, Feb. 25, 2026 at the American Legion in Carlsbad. Adrian Hedden | Carlsbad Current-Argus

Adrian Hedden Carlsbad Current-Argusachedden@currentargus.com Mack Dyer served for 21 years in the U.S. Army. He fought in Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and Operation Iraqi…

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New Mexico

New Mexico spoils Nevada’s Senior Day as Lobos leave Reno with 63-56 win

Published

16 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

New Mexico spoils Nevada’s Senior Day as Lobos leave Reno with 63-56 win

The Nevada women’s basketball team dropped its final home contest of the 2025-26 season on Saturday with New Mexico spoiling Senior Day and pushing past the Wolf Pack for a 63-56 win.

The Wolf Pack led 36-34 at halftime behind a hot-shooting start. Skylar Durley, Imbie Jones and Ahrray Young each had six points as Nevada shot 14-of-25 from the field (56%). But things cooled off in the second half, with the Lobos outscoring the Wolf Pack 19-13 in the third quarter to take a four-point lead into the fourth. Nevada’s shooting woes only worsened in the final period when it made just three field goals, including none in the final four minutes.

Durley led Nevada with 16 points and six rebounds. Young finished with 10 points, three rebounds and three assists. The Wolf Pack made just one three-pointer out of its nine attempts.

The loss drops Nevada to 9-20 overall, 5-14 within the Mountain West Conference. The Wolf Pack now heads to Utah State for Tuesday’s regular-season finale before opening the Mountain West Tournament play next Saturday in Las Vegas.

Watch our coverage of the game below.

Highlights and reaction from Nevada’s loss to New Mexico.

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