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After a disappointing test flight, Boeing (New York Stock Exchange:BA) The Starliner spacecraft returned to Earth shortly after midnight on Saturday without the crew it carried to the International Space Station a few months ago.
The spacecraft landed at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico at 12:01 a.m. ET on Saturday, NASA announced.
Boeing (BA) has launched Starliner with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on board, a milestone for the aircraft maker’s space program marked by years of development delays and delays in test flights.
Liftoff took place on June 5 aboard the Atlas 5 rocket, built by the company’s joint venture with Lockheed Martin (LMT).
The duo, who had hoped to return to Earth after a weeklong mission, found themselves stranded on the International Space Station as NASA reconsidered their trip home aboard the troubled spacecraft.
In late August, the space agency tasked Elon Musk’s space exploration company SpaceX (SPACE) with bringing Wilmore and Williams back to Earth on a mission expected to conclude in February.