NASA Books Starliner's Return

Boeing's problem-plagued Starliner spacecraft has been scheduled to begin its return journey to Earth on Friday evening, NASA said Wednesday, with no one aboard. Six hours after it leaves the International Space Station, around midnight, the spacecraft is to make a parachute landing at the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico, the New York Times reports. NASA had already decided to put its two astronauts stranded at the space station on SpaceX's Crew Dragon instead, considering it a safer bet, for their return in February.

That means Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are spending months longer in space than planned. They are now full-time crew members, helping the seven others with experiments and maintenance, per the AP. On Thursday, they'll close the hatches between Starliner and the space station. Should weather or technical or mechanical issues cause problems, other potential return dates are Sept. 10, Sept. 14, and Sept. 18. "It's been a journey to get here and we're excited to have Starliner return," Steve Stich, NASA's commercial crew program manager, said Wednesday. Boeing has already written off $1.6 billion in costs for the Starliner program, per the Times. (More Starliner stories.)