Boeing’s NASA Astronauts Still Not Stuck In Space Even As Starliner Starts Return Journey

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Boeing's Starliner spacecraft successfully undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) at 6:04 p.m. Eastern Time earlier today after spending months in space. Starliner, which launched in June, was initially slated to return to Earth after a couple of weeks. Still, its return was delayed as the ship's thrusters malfunctioned during its ISS docking. This led to a months long investigation from NASA and Boeing, with things coming to a head last month when the agency decided that a lack of consensus among subject matter experts violated its rules for astronaut safety during missions.

After its undocking, Starliner will close its entry cover and proceed to thruster checkouts before teams on Earth decide whether to start a deorbit burn to start its entry into the Earth's atmosphere.

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Starliner Moves Out Of Approach Ellipsoid After Undocking In Key Milestone

Teams on the ground will decide whether to start the deorbit burn at 10:57 p.m. Eastern Time. If the decision is made to proceed with the burn, the ship will fire its thrusters twenty minutes later. Its deorbit burn will be the most important portion of Starliner's return journey, and if the ship performs according to plan, it will land at the White Sands landing site in New Mexico just after midnight.

Starliner's major milestone so far has been exiting the approach ellipsoid around the ISS. This increases the station's margin of safety, as it ensures that the ship does not approach the station for 24 hours even if it loses all of its thrusters.

The deorbit burn will fire the ship's four orbital maneuvering and attitude control (OMAC) thrusters for a 59 second burn to allow it to enter the Earth's atmosphere by slowing it down by 130 meters per second. If this burn is