Six hours after takeoff, the autopilot-equipped spacecraft parachuted onto the New Mexico desert.
At 11:01 p.m. local time (5:01 a.m. UK time on Saturday), cameras captured the capsule as a white streak approaching the landing, which caused shouts from Boeing’s Mission Control.
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were deemed too dangerous to return to the spacecraft by NASA.
It means that instead of taking off on what should have been a brief eight-day journey, they will stay on the ISS until February, which is more than eight months longer than planned.
Issues surfaced soon after Boeing’s long-delayed spacecraft was launched in June into orbit.
Boeing declared that the spacecraft could safely return the occupants after conducting comprehensive propulsion tests both on Earth and in orbit.
NASA, however, was of the opinion that they should stay on the station.
Despite a few technical difficulties during reentry, such as more rocket problems, Starliner managed a “bull’s-eye landing,” according to NASA’s commercial crew program manager Steve Stich.
