The Boeing Starliner space capsule successfully returned to earth without any issues yesterday. The first mission with two astronauts that was supposed to be only a long day had to be extended over 90 days due to issues with the capsule. Starliner returned to earth yesterday but two crew members are still on the International Space Station (ISS) because Boeing could not guarantee NASA that the capsule would be able to bring them back to earth safely.
The process of returning the Starliner yesterday went without a hitch. The propulsion system that malfunctioned when attempting to dock with the ISS more than three months ago has not recurred. The landing was done at White Sands Space Harbor, New Mexico with the capsule now in Boeing's hands to see what caused the various issues while it was in space.
The Boeing Starliner spacecraft is one of the other spacecraft used by NASA to deliver crews to the ISS after the Space Shuttle ceased operations nearly a decade ago. In addition to Starliner, the United States also uses the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule to carry astronauts and supplies to the ISS.
The program ran into various problems that cost Boeing around $1.5 billion. The original purpose of this commercial capsule program was developed to reduce the cost of sending astronauts to the ISS. But now the cost for an astronaut using Starliner is around $90 million which is much more expensive than $55 million using Crew Dragon.