Watch Live: Boeing Starliner is about to return to Earth without its crew

NASA and Boeing will attempt to bring an empty Starliner spacecraft back to Earth tonight (Sept. 6), weeks after the craft was deemed too risky for astronauts to ride home.

The uncrewed Starliner is scheduled to detach from the International Space Station (ISS) at 6:04 p.m. EDT (2204 GMT) today for a six-hour journey that should conclude at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico just after midnight EDT.

NASA will livestream the undocking phase beginning at 5:45 p.m. EDT (2145 GMT) and Starliner's landing starting at 10:50 p.m. EDT (0250 GMT on Sept. 7). You can watch the livestreams on NASA's website or via the video embedded below.

NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test Undocking - YouTube

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The landing will conclude NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test — the first attempt to carry astronauts into space on the Starliner capsule. However, the test flight will end without the crew that initially rode the vehicle into orbit.

Starliner lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on June 5, carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams with it. The spacecraft experienced several unexpected issues along the way, including multiple helium leaks and thruster malfunctions, before safely docking with the ISS on June 6.

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Wilmore and Williams were initially expected to stay aboard the ISS for as few as eight days before riding Starliner back home, but attempts to resolve the spacecraft's issues dragged on for months. Finally, on Aug. 24, NASA announced in a news conference that it would bring Starliner home without its crew, leaving Williams and Wilmore to instead fly home on a SpaceX capsule no earlier than February 2025. The astronauts' planned eight-day trip to space will now last at least 240 days.