Arriving On Earth, NASA's Starliner Mission And Boeing Officially Ended

Starliner planes land on Earth (photo: dock. NASA)

JAKARTA After three months of being trapped on the International Space Station (ISS), Starliner finally arrived on Earth on September 7 at around 11.01 WIB. The plane arrived at the Port of White total Space, New Mexico.

Starliner managed to land well. Although the Boeing-made plane returned without carrying two of its flight crew, NASA's Space Operations Mission Directorate Assistant Administrator Ken Bowersox said the Starliner Air Test mission had been completed.

"I am very proud of our collective team work in this entire test flight, and we are delighted to see Starliner return safely," Bowersox said. "NASA and Boeing learned a lot about Starliners in the most extreme environment."

NASA's Commercial Crew Program Manager Steve Totaling also welcomed Starliner's return. How come this spacecraft managed to return to Earth thanks to the hard work and dedication of the team from NASA and Boeing over the past three months.

"We are delighted that Starliner is back home safely. This is an important test flight for NASA in preparing for the upcoming mission in the Starliner system. There are many valuable lessons that enable our long-term success," said Stich.

Starliner's Air Test mission was supposed to end within eight days after the plane was docking on the ISS. However, this aircraft has a helium leak and its boosters so the return schedule continues to be delayed for several months.

Starliner made it home after three months, but two of the crew members, namely NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, had to be stuck longer than before. This happens because NASA and Boeing don't want to take a bigger risk.

The problem with Starliner affects the Crew-9 mission that will fly at the end of September. Supposedly, Crew-9 brought four crew members using Dragon planes, but NASA decided to send two astronauts to the ISS.

The two astronauts are NASA Astronaut Nick Hague and Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) Cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. NASA deliberately reduced the number of crew members for the Crew-9 mission so Wilmore and Williams could return to Earth with Hague and Gorbunov.