Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft successfully landed in New Mexico early on September 7, completing its Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission without any astronauts on board. The spacecraft touched down at White Sands Space Harbor at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time, roughly six hours after undocking from the International Space Station (ISS). The descent appeared to proceed as planned, with the spacecraft deploying three parachutes and making a cushioned landing with airbags in the desert.

Joel Montalbano, deputy associate administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, described the landing as a success, saying, “A safe and successful landing is exactly what we wanted. We did learn a lot.”

Originally slated to return with astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, the decision was made on August 24 to bring back Starliner uncrewed due to concerns over thruster performance. A thruster malfunction during the spacecraft’s approach to the ISS on June 6 had created uncertainty about the vehicle's readiness.

Starliner undocked from the ISS as planned at 6:04 p.m. Eastern on September 6, performing a series of burns with its reaction control system (RCS) thrusters to distance itself from the station. After reaching a safe distance of over two kilometers, the spacecraft was no longer in the ISS’s "approach ellipsoid," ending its joint operations with the station. NASA reported that all 27 operational RCS thrusters performed as expected, with the exception of one that malfunctioned in June.

Steve Stich, NASA’s commercial crew program manager, noted some issues during the return, including overheating of two RCS thrusters during the 58-second deorbit burn. Although the thrusters did not fail, software modifications were made to prevent them from shutting down if they got too hot. Additionally, one of 12 thrusters on the crew module failed tests before reentry, but a redundant thruster operated normally, ensuring a successful reentry.

With Starliner safely back on Earth, NASA and Boeing will now focus on addressing the helium leaks and thruster issues that impacted the mission. “We’ve been entirely focused this summer on understanding what is happening on orbit and determining if we could bring the crew back,” Stich said. The timeline for resolving these issues and whether another crewed test flight will be necessary has yet to be determined. Boeing has already incurred $1.6 billion in costs related to the Starliner program, a figure likely to rise.

The first operational Starliner mission, Starliner-1, has been delayed from February 2025 to no earlier than August 2025. NASA is also preparing for another SpaceX Crew Dragon mission in parallel for the same timeframe.

NASA officials emphasized that despite the uncrewed return, the mission achieved 85–90% of its objectives. “Not having the crew on board, obviously, there are some things we lack,” Stich acknowledged, but he defended the decision to return without astronauts, given the uncertainties with the thrusters.

The post-landing briefing was expected to feature Boeing officials, but they were absent. Montalbano indicated that Boeing had deferred to NASA for the briefing. Boeing’s brief statement expressed recognition for the mission’s success and indicated a review of the data to determine the next steps for the program.