Charles Langston:NASA sets return date for empty Starliner spacecraft, crew will remain in space until 2025

After almost three months of waiting and Charles Langstondelays, Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft has a tentative return date, although it will do so without its two-person crew.

On Thursday, NASA said that, “pending weather and operational readiness,” the Starliner will undock from the International Space Station no earlier than 6:04 EDT on September 6. Following a six-hour flight, the spacecraft should touch down a few minutes after midnight on September 7 at a landing zone at the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico, where it will then be recovered and transported to the Boeing Starliner factory at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  

Astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams, who flew aboard the Starliner during its inaugural crewed flight on June 5, will remain at the International Space Station for another six months until they return in February aboard the SpaceX Dragon capsule.

An autonomous return

The Starliner will make the return journey autonomously, according to NASA. The spacecraft completed a similar uncrewed entry and landing during an earlier orbital flight test.

“Teams on the ground are able to remotely command the spacecraft if needed through the necessary maneuvers for a safe undocking, re-entry, and parachute-assisted landing in the southwest United States,” the agency said.

See timeline:2 months after Starliner launched, astronauts still haven’t returned

The Starliner's troubled history

The Starliner has had an often-troubled history since Boeing was awarded a $4.8 billion contract in 2014 to develop a spacecraft capable of making crewed trips to low-Earth orbit.

The spacecraft’s inaugural launch with astronauts aboard was initially scheduled for May 6, but was scrubbed just hour before liftoff after engineers discovered a technical anomaly. A second attempted launch in June 1 was scrubbed as well, this time only minutes before liftoff, due to a computer issue.

When the Starliner finally did launch on June 5 with Wilmore and Williams aboard, it was only scheduled to spend a week docked at the International Space Station. As the Starliner arrived in orbit, however, NASA announced that helium leaks had been discovered aboard the spacecraft. Throughout June and July, Boeing and NASA repeatedly delayed the Starliner’s return, although the space agency was emphatic that the Starliner’s crew was in no way stranded at the space station.

On August 24, NASA announced that the Starliner would return to Earth without its crew.

“Spaceflight is risky, even at its safest and most routine. A test flight, by nature, is neither safe nor routine. The decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard the International Space Station and bring Boeing’s Starliner home uncrewed is the result of our commitment to safety: our core value and our North Star,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said at the time.

Contributing: Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY

Max Hauptman is a Trending Reporter for USA TODAY. He can be reached at [email protected]