Boeing’s Starliner returns after test flight to space station
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft returned to Earth on Wednesday after a largely successful, uncrewed test flight that included 4½ days docked at the International Space Station.
Streaking across the sky over the Pacific Ocean, then crossing over Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula, it parachuted to a landing at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The conclusion of the test flight comes after a couple of years of setbacks and sets the stage for the next Starliner mission, which is to have astronauts aboard.
Starliner, which Boeing developed, provides the space agency with a second transportation system for taking astronauts to and from the space station. SpaceX, the rocket company founded by Elon Musk, has been flying astronauts to the station.
On Tuesday, astronauts closed the hatch to the Starliner capsule after filling it with 600 pounds of cargo to be returned to Earth.
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