Boeing’s Starliner astronaut capsule lands safely in New Mexico after failed mission

The capsule successfully launched from Florida on Friday, but an error prevented it from docking with the International Space Station

The landing will yield the mission’s most valuable test data after failing to meet its core objective of docking to the space station

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A tent is placed over the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft after it landed by parachute at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico, US. Photo: Reuters

Published: 4:37am, 22 Dec 2019Updated: 10:21pm, 22 Dec 2019

Boeing’s Starliner astronaut spacecraft landed in the New Mexico desert on Sunday, the company said, after faulty software forced officials to cut short an unmanned mission aimed at taking it to the International Space Station.

The landing at 7:58am ET (12:58 GMT) in the White Sands desert capped a turbulent 48 hours for Boeing’s botched milestone test of an astronaut capsule that is designed to help Nasa regain its human space flight capabilities.

“We hit the bull’s-eye,” a Boeing spokesman said on a live-stream of the landing.

The Boeing Starliner during its launch. Photo: dpa

The landing will yield the mission’s most valuable test data after failing to meet its core objective of docking to the space station.

After Starliner’s touchdown, teams of engineers in trucks raced to inspect the vehicle, whose six airbags cushioned its impact on the desert surface as planned, a live video feed showed.