BOIENG STARLINER SPACECRAFT.

SPACE 🌌 CRAFT SET TO RETURN TO EARTH 🌎.

Boeing's troubled Starliner spacecraft is set to return to Earth without a crew, as NASA aims to make this happen at the earliest opportunity to minimize any risk of potential complications.

The spacecraft will execute a series of small "breakout burns"—around a dozen, each generating about one Newton meter per second of thrust—enabling it to safely detach from the International Space Station (ISS) autonomously. This marks a departure from the original plan, which included a "fly-around inspection."

Officials were clear about the reasoning behind this change. "We opted for the breakout burn because it moves the vehicle away from the ISS more quickly," one stated. Another added, "It’s simply a faster method to distance the spacecraft from the Station."

After 93 days on orbit, Starliner is coming home. 

The spacecraft is a “go” for undocking from the International Space Station at 6:04 p.m. EST, though it will be leaving its two-person crew behind, and you can watch the drama unfold live.

Those crew members, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, closed the hatch on Starliner for the final time earlier today. They’ll be monitoring the spacecraft as it makes its way through the atmosphere this evening, before eventually landing in Mexico.

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft launched to orbit on June 5. This crewed test mission was the critical final step before the company could start providing regular crew transportation services to the space agency, as part of a $4.2 billion contract it won way back in 2014.