The Boeing Starliner spacecraft of the United States has embarked on its journey back to Earth

Recently, the highly anticipated Boeing Starliner spacecraft of the United States has embarked on its journey back to Earth.

The Starliner spacecraft carried American astronauts Wilmore and Williams into space on June 5 and arrived at the International Space Station on June 6. This is its first manned test flight mission. However, the spacecraft then encountered a series of technical problems such as thruster failures and helium leaks, causing the originally scheduled return time on June 14 to be postponed repeatedly.

At 18:04 Eastern Time on September 6 (6:04 Beijing time on the 7th), the Starliner spacecraft detached from the International Space Station and started its journey back to Earth without carrying people. After several hours of flight, at 0:01 Eastern Time on the 7th (12:01 Beijing time on the 7th), the Starliner successfully landed in the White Sands Space Harbor area in New Mexico. Before landing, the parachute opened smoothly to help the spacecraft slow down and finally achieved a "smooth and successful landing."

For safety reasons, NASA decided to let the Starliner return to Earth without people this time, and the two astronauts will take SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft back in February next year instead. Since the retirement of the American space shuttle in 2011, the United States has vigorously developed commercial manned spaceflight. Boeing and SpaceX have respectively built the Starliner manned spacecraft and the manned version of the Dragon spacecraft. The failure of the first flight of the Starliner this time is undoubtedly a heavy blow to Boeing, and its future development prospects are also full of uncertainties. The subsequent relevant situations will continue to attract the attention of all sectors.