Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft landed safely on Earth at 6:49 p.m. ET Wednesday evening after spending four and a half days docked at the International Space Station. The safe return is a significant accomplishment for Boeing after the company spent years working on the program, which was riddled with failures and delays. After detaching from the ISS, Starliner spent approximately four hours slowly lowering in altitude before deploying parachutes to further slow its descent as it neared Earth’s atmosphere. The spacecraft landed at White Sands Space Harbor in the New Mexican desert only three-tenths of a mile from its targeted site, which webcasts hosts called “basically a bullseye.” While largely successful, the trip experienced a few minor setbacks, which officials will examine. This mission only carried a mannequin wearing a spacesuit, but NASA and Boeing say that Starliner could be ready to fly its first crew of NASA astronauts to the ISS by the end of the year.
