NASA announced on August 29th local time that after being stranded on the International Space Station for several days, the Boeing "StarCraft" spacecraft has finally been confirmed to depart on September 6th and return to Earth without passengers.
NASA announced in a press release that the "Starship" is scheduled to depart from the space station at around 18:00 Eastern Time on September 6th and land at White Sands Spaceport in New Mexico at around midnight. During this period, the "StarCraft" mission control center located in Houston will collaborate with the Boeing mission control center located in Florida to assist the spacecraft in implementing a "fully autonomous return".
According to the press release, if necessary, the ground team can remotely command the spacecraft to safely leave the space station, re-enter the atmosphere, and land in the southwestern United States with the help of parachutes through necessary maneuvers.
According to CNN, even if the unmanned return of the "StarCraft" progresses smoothly, NASA will have to make a "critical decision" on whether to approve the spacecraft's manned spaceflight certification. If it is not certified, Boeing's reputation will be further damaged.
Boeing has invested heavily in the development of the "interstellar passenger plane" for many years, competing with space exploration technology companies for NASA's commercial manned space program, but progress has not been smooth. In December 2019, the first unmanned test flight of the "StarCraft" failed to enter its intended orbit; The second unmanned test flight has been postponed to May 2022 due to technical issues. The manned test flight has been postponed multiple times, and it was not until June this year that two astronauts were sent to the space station. However, due to malfunctions such as helium leaks in the spacecraft's propulsion system, the risk of manned return is high, and the return time of these two astronauts has been repeatedly postponed. NASA's latest decision is to have these two individuals return to Earth in February next year aboard a Boeing competitor's Dragon spacecraft.
Agence France Presse said that the malfunction of the "Starliner" spacecraft and the forced return of two astronauts on a competitor's spacecraft have undoubtedly added insult to injury for Boeing, which has experienced frequent safety accidents and suffered setbacks in reputation and marketing performance in civil aviation aircraft in recent years.