Boeing's Starliner returns to Earth without NASA pilots

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00:00Touchdown. Starliner is back on Earth.

00:04Without the astronauts, it was meant to be carrying back to Earth. Boeing's Starliner

00:08spacecraft touched down in a New Mexico desert after leaving the International Space Station

00:13around six hours earlier.

00:16Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams rode to the ISS in Starliner in June for what was meant

00:21to be an eight-day mission.

00:23But the capsule, which has been plagued with technical issues, was deemed too risky to

00:27bring them home.

00:29Instead, they'll be returning in a SpaceX Crew Dragon in February next year, a change

00:35of plans that the astronauts have taken in their stride, according to the manager of

00:39the ISS.

00:40Since Butch and Sonny have been on board and they were extended, they already started participating

00:45and really helping us out on board station. They've done over 42 experiments, may actually

00:51be more than that by now, that was when I checked last week, they had over 100 hours

00:55between the two of them helping us on board with science and research. They are doing

01:01the normal exercise regiments.

01:05The blast-off in June marked the first test flight for Starliner. The problems with the

01:09spacecraft came as another knock for Boeing, its reputation already marred by recent in-flight

01:14incidents and two deadly accidents several years ago.

01:18A smooth landing will therefore be welcomed by the company, as well as NASA, which is

01:23determined to get the capsule certified in the future.

01:27Many things on the vehicle are working really well. What we really need to go do is look

01:31at the things that didn't perform the way we expected, like I talked about the helium

01:35leaks, can we go fix those leaks, test those on the ground and have confidence to move

01:39forward and fly again? And the same thing with the thrusters.

01:43While this was Boeing's first attempt at a crewed mission, rival company SpaceX has sent

01:47nine crewed flights to space for NASA.

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