CAP CANAVERAL, Florida –
The Boeing crew taxi returned to Earth from the International Space Station on Wednesday, completing a repeated test flight before NASA astronauts boarded.
It was a quick return trip: the Starliner capsule parachuted into the New Mexico desert just four hours after leaving the lab in orbit, with air cushions connected to cushion the landing. There was only one mannequin stuck.
Aside from propeller failures and cooling system problems, Starliner seemed to get its big-bet cruise, 2 and a half years after the first failed attempt. Flight controllers in Houston applauded and applauded the bullfight landing.
NASA astronauts will then line up for a trip to the space station. The space agency has long wanted two competing US companies to carry astronauts for additional insurance, as it drastically reduced its reliance on Russia for space travel to and from the space station.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is already the established leader, launching astronauts from 2020 and even tourists. The crew capsules leave the Florida coast, the Boeing Starliner returns to the vast and desolate White Sands missile field of the army in New Mexico.
Boeing abandoned its first attempt to reach the space station in 2019, after software bugs left the capsule in the wrong orbit and nearly condemned it. The company fixed the defects and tried again last summer, but the corroded valves stopped the countdown. After further repairs, Starliner finally left Cape Canaveral last Thursday and docked at the space station on Friday.
The station’s astronauts tested Starliner’s computer and communication systems during their five days on the space station. They also unloaded hundreds of pounds (kilograms) of groceries and other supplies that flew into the Boeing capsule, then filled it with empty air tanks and other discarded equipment.
A folded U.S. flag sent by Boeing was left behind, to be retrieved by Starliner’s first crew.
“We’re a little sad to see her leave,” station astronaut Bob Hines said on the radio as the capsule flew.
Next to the trip was the Starliner test dummy: Rosie the Rocketeer, a takeoff from World War II Rosie the Riveter.
Repairs and renovations cost Boeing nearly $ 600 million.
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