Boeing's Starliner spacecraft successfully landed in New Mexico

Recently, Boeing's Starliner spacecraft in the United States has attracted much attention. In the early morning of September 7, Eastern Time in the United States, the Starliner spacecraft successfully returned to Earth without carrying people and landed in New Mexico, the United States.

The Starliner spacecraft conducted its first manned test flight on June 5. Carrying two American astronauts, Wilmore and Williams, it lifted off and arrived at the International Space Station on June 6. However, the spacecraft was originally scheduled to depart from the International Space Station and return to Earth on June 14. But due to a series of problems such as thruster failures and helium leaks, the return time was repeatedly postponed. For safety reasons, NASA decided to let the Starliner depart from the International Space Station on September 6 and return to Earth without carrying people. The two astronauts will instead take SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft back in February next year.

NASA's live broadcast showed that the Starliner separated from the International Space Station at around 18:04 Eastern Time on the 6th (6:04 Beijing time on the 7th) and started its journey back to Earth. 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."

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.