The Boeing Starliner spacecraft safely touched down this morning at the White Sand Missile Range in New Mexico, making it the first time an “American-made, human-rated capsule has landed on land” (Congratulations, guys. We’re now able to land capsules on land, just like the Soviets perfected in the 60s.):
LANDING CONFIRMED
The #Starliner spacecraft safely touched down at 7:58am ET at @WSMissileRange in New Mexico with a bulleye landing. This marks the 1st time an American-made, human-rated capsule has landed on land. Watch our live coverage: https://t.co/MAYPLDF7R7 pic.twitter.com/66owuQDsVB
— NASA (@NASA) December 22, 2019
Oh, and the part about getting the spacecraft into space? Well, that’s still being worked on:
Today, @BoeingSpace’s #Starliner spacecraft safely returned to Earth with a bullseye landing. Although the spacecraft didn’t reach its intended orbit and dock to the @Space_Station, it did complete many test objectives for our @Commercial_Crew program: https://t.co/1jWkMI5oA6 pic.twitter.com/SEm2iKUviR
— NASA (@NASA) December 22, 2019
There was some sort of clock issue that prevented the craft to reach the proper orbit and dock with the ISS:
BREAKING: Boeing's new Starliner capsule went off course after launch and won't dock with the International Space Station. It was supposed to be a crucial dress rehearsal for next year's inaugural launch with astronauts. https://t.co/TDSyeDsQ3i
— The Associated Press (@AP) December 20, 2019
Congratulations, except to the clock guy:
Congratulations to the #Starliner landing and recovery team and to the thousands of people who helped make this mission possible. We test, we learn, we build the future together. pic.twitter.com/LuEHzPb0Jo
— Boeing Space (@BoeingSpace) December 22, 2019
But NASA is pretty psyched with the test:
“We proved that we can launch a #Starliner on an #AtlasV rocket.”
— Administrator @JimBridenstine on today’s bullseye landing
— NASA (@NASA) December 22, 2019
Isn’t it supposed to go into space?
We were able to show that this spacecraft does what its supposed to do. Today’s landing could not have gone any better.
— Jim Chilton, senior vice president of Boeing’s Space and Launch Division
— NASA (@NASA) December 22, 2019
This could be overly optimistic:
I’d say we’re in the 85-90% range of our test objectives.
— Jim Chilton, senior vice president of Boeing’s Space and Launch Division
— NASA (@NASA) December 22, 2019
Crew flights are supposed to start next year:
The number one flight test objective for #Starliner was a successful deorbit and entry. Data from this test will set us up for crewed flights next year.
— Steve Stich, deputy manager of our @Commercial_Crew Program
— NASA (@NASA) December 22, 2019
***