Boeing Spacecraft Lands on Earth Without 2 NASA Astronauts

The Starliner, which was designed to operate autonomously and has completed two flights, landed in the New Mexico desert on Friday night.

The empty Boeing Starliner capsule touches down at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico late on Sept. 6, 2024. NASA via AP

Boeing’s new space capsule landed back on Earth on Friday night after leaving the International Space Station on Friday (ISS) without the two NASA test pilots as originally planned due to technical problems.

Six hours after departing the ISS, the spacecraft parachuted into New Mexico’s White Sands Missile Range in the desert on autopilot.