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Boeing's Starliner lands after off course in orbit

WASHINGTON
2019-12-22 22:49

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WASHINGTON, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Boeing's Starliner spacecraft landed on Sunday morning in the U.S. state of New Mexico after it scrapped a plan to dock with the International Space Station due to an orbit insertion anomaly, NASA live broadcast showed.

The crew capsule of the spacecraft touched down at 7:58 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time (1258 GMT) at White Sands Missile Range, a military testing area, according to NASA.

The crew capsule, lifted off on Friday, went out of its planned orbit after separation with the rocket, resulting in a cut-short unmanned mission.

About half hour before the landing, the spacecraft completed deorbit burn, separation with its service module, parachute deployment, heat shield jettison and airbag inflation.

NASA called it a "bull's eye" landing and the Starliner was reported in good shape after completing 33 orbits of the Earth.

It marked the first time an American-made, human-rated capsule has landed on land, according to NASA.

However, the failure to demonstrate a docking with the space station, the core objective of the mission, was a setback for NASA's attempt to bring American astronauts to the space station with U.S.-made spacecraft instead of relying on a Russian spaceship.

NASA contracted Boeing and SpaceX to build two vehicles in 2014. SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft completed its debut unmanned flight in March and is expected to have a manned flight in 2020.
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