Washington DC, September 6:
According to NASA, the United States space agency, the Starliner spacecraft, built by Boeing, will return to Earth on Friday (local time) after disengaging from the International Space Station. On board will not be astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Williams.

White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico is the intended landing site for the unscrewed spaceship on Saturday (local time).

The first crewed voyage of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft took place on June 5, and astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams from NASA arrived at the space station on June 6. It was thought that the two spacemen would have gone back on the same plane.

Boeing and NASA discovered helium leaks and had problems with the spacecraft's reaction control thrusters when Starliner approached the orbiting laboratory.

Starliner will return to Earth from the station without a crew, according to NASA's announcement on August 24. This decision was made to ensure the safety of the astronauts.

The last touches were made to Starliner's interior configuration and cargo packing by Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore. In preparation for Starliner's unmanned departure, the two shut the hatch for the last time on Thursday afternoon, according to NASA.

Along with two other crew members assigned to NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 mission, Wilmore and Williams will stay on the International Space Station until February 2025, when they will come home on the SpaceX Dragon spaceship.

If all goes according to plan, Starliner will begin its return journey home on Friday, September 6, at around 6:04 pm EDT, when it will autonomously undock from the space station. According to NASA, the landing and completion of the flight test are scheduled at around 12:03 am on Saturday, September 7, according to Boeing.

NASA has contracted with two private companies, SpaceX and Boeing, to deliver humans to the International Space Station from the United States.

There is little chance that Williams and Wilmore will fly on the Crew Dragon spacecraft on the next NASA astronaut mission, Crew-9, which is scheduled to launch later this month and spend six months exploring the International Space Station.

Crew 9's Dragon spacecraft will depart Earth with two astronauts rather than four in order to accommodate the Boeing Starliner crew currently stationed on the International Space Station.

Boeing's Starliner Returning to Earth from ISS Without Sunita Williams Onboard