Starliner undocks from ISS and returns to Earth without crew

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft has returned to Earth without the astronauts it carried into space.

Nasa astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams were onboard for the first crewed test flight of the capsule, but several problems arose, leading Nasa to delay the pair’s return from the International Space Station (ISS) until February 2025 – aboard a separate spacecraft.

Starliner decoupled from the ISS before undertaking a six-hour flight back to Earth. It re-entered the atmosphere and used parachutes to slow its descent, before landing at the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.