Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is set to begin its journey back to Earth – but the astronauts it was supposed to be carrying will stay behind on the International Space Station.
The empty craft, which has been switched to autonomous mode, is scheduled to undock from the orbiting lab at 23:04 BST (18:04 EDT).
The capsule, which suffered technical problems after it launched with Nasa’s Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on board, has been deemed too risky to take them home.
They will instead return in a SpaceX Crew Dragon, but not until February 2025 – extending an eight-day stay on the ISS to eight months.
Its flight back will last six hours, and after it re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere it will use parachutes to slow its descent to land at the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico at 05:03 BST (12:03 EDT) on Saturday.
Nasa says Butch and Suni are in good spirits and in regular contact with their families.
Steve Stich, Nasa’s commercial crew programme manager, told a media briefing that both astronauts were passionate about their jobs.
“They understand the importance now of moving on and getting the vehicle back, and getting the vehicle back safely.”
This was the first test flight for Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft with astronauts on board.
But it was plagued with problems soon after it blasted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida on 5 June.
The capsule experienced leaks of helium, which pushes fuel into the propulsion system, and several of its thrusters did not work properly.
Engineers at Boeing and Nasa spent months trying to understand these technical issues, but in late August the US space agency decided that Starliner was
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