Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft has landed safely on Earth. The capsule flew first over the Pacific Ocean, then crossed over Mexico, before landing at the White Sands Missile Range in the US state of New Mexico.
The successful landing put an end to a successful unmanned test flight that lasted six days. The Starliner was docked at the International Space Station for more than four days.
This successful flight represents an important step for Boeing. The first manned flight of the Starliner will probably follow at the end of this year or early next year.
Two previous attempts for a flight failed. In 2021, a planned launch of the Starliner was postponed due to technical problems. In 2019, Boeing did succeed in taking off the aircraft, but due to software problems, the Starliner was unable to reach the ISS and had to return to Earth after 48 hours in space.
Like Elon Musk’s competitor SpaceX, Boeing has a contract with the American space agency NASA to fly crews and supplies to the ISS. SpaceX has successfully completed four of those missions.
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