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After a disappointing test flight, Boeing’s (NYSE:BA) Starliner spacecraft returned to Earth shortly after midnight on Saturday without the crew it carried to the International Space Station a few months ago.
The space vehicle landed at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico at 12:01 am ET on Saturday, NASA announced.
Boeing (BA) launched Starliner with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams aboard, a milestone for the aircraft maker’s space program marked by years of development hangups and test flight delays.
The liftoff occurred on June 5 atop the Atlas 5 rocket, built by the company’s joint venture with Lockheed Martin (LMT).
The duo, who expected to return to Earth after a week-long mission, found themselves stuck at the International Space Station as NASA reconsidered their journey back home aboard the troubled spacecraft.
In late August, the space agency tasked Elon Musk’s space exploration company, SpaceX (SPACE), with bringing Wilmore and Williams back to Earth in a mission expected to take place early next year.
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