LIVE! Boeing Starliner Return To Earth

for e well good evening everyone and welcome back here to the Launchpad and our continuing Starliner return to earth live coverage this is it we are 34 minutes away from the deorbit burn NASA is getting ready to begin their live coverage of starliners re-entry and Landing all coming all the way back to the White Sands space Harbor in New Mexico weather continues to look good and teams continue to Target 12:00 a.m. eastern time for touchdown of the Boeing Starliner craft that's left its uh crew up at the International Space Station if it's your first time here though welcome my name is Zach I'm the founder and host here at the Launchpad here at top it's our mission to inform and Inspire the explorers of tomorrow because we believe that space is better together and we're glad to have you joining us here if you haven't yet take a moment and let us know in the chat where you're watching from we're going to continue to answer your guys' comments and questions that you can send in in the chat for free just make sure you tag us at the Launchpad so we can see those and we'll get to as many of those questions as we can over the next 1 hour and 16 minutes we're also getting a new poll set up in the chat we want to hear from you how do you think this return to Earth is going to go you can let us know in the comments as well do you think we're going to see a successful Landing or do you think that uh unfortunately things might go a little bit differently we'll have to wait and see of course we want to be positive and are hoping for the best of Starliner but we also want to be practical and this is a spacecraft re-entry and a spacecraft that has not had necessarily a perfect flight but we're excited to see Starliner come back to earth with that deorbit burn committing it to re-entry scheduled just 32 minutes from now we got people tuning in from all over the world we got Andy in Vancouver we got Philip in Huntsville at Alabama we've got David in Michigan Timothy is in New Mexico Timothy might actually be able to see it tonight yeah depending on the area we got uh Shelty in New York welcome Austin's in South Florida Adams in New Hampshire Melody is in Chicago great to have you here uh Mark's asking should I be able to see it in Southern California so we do have that view on the top right or side right of your screen that is the re-entry Corridor where it'll be visible uh during the flight path so it is a very small flight path that we'll be able to see it here so unfortunately you will not be able to see it from California we got William and Munich Germany patties and Springfield massachus welcome we've also got Roy and Sydney Australia we've got uh Angel angelis sorry if I said that wrong and El Paso Rick's in Tennessee Xavier's in Arizona Cathy's in Florida uh John says he's on Starliner I hope not John if if you are good luck uh enjoy the ride uh Angel is in California Adrian's in Melbourne Australia we got got McDuff in Montreal Quebec uh Jean uh welcome great to have you here we got Ken in Pennsylvania Canadian Spirits in BC we got Andrew in Tennessee and we got Taylor Swift lover in California I mean how can you not be a Swifty uh Cameron's in Kentucky and we got rato sorry if I said that wrong in Guatemala it's great to have you all joining us here if you haven't yet though take a moment engage the like button share out the stream invite people to join us back here as we get set to watch watch history of the Boeing starliners return the end of the official crew flight test unfortunately returning without her crew uh to make sure that safety is the priority crew of the crew of Starliner Butch and sunny will return as part of crew 9 uh but they will be now staying on board the International Space Station until February of 2025 a little bit longer than their original 8-day Mission you guys have questions you can keep sending those in the chat by taking us at the Launchpad and we'll work on answering those live uh Troy what's the difference in final missions of dragon vers the Starliner uh I'm not sure what you mean final missions as both are still flying um but uh crew nine crew eight will stay on board station for a few more weeks till crew nine launches then they normally have a week week and a half hand over crew eight will go home crew nine is only going to fly with two astronauts on board Butch and sunny will join them officially on station and they will stay till February Dreamland says they won't be home for Christmas super sad yeah it's uh definitely a big thing uh NASA keep saying Butch and sunny knew this was a test flight knew there was a chance that they got stuck up longer uh and that that's their job uh is that to handle this so some interesting comments coming in from NASA but uh we'll be following along as uh unfortunately Butch and sunny will be up on the International Space Station a little longer than originally thought of but uh I'm sure they will uh not complain necessarily about being on board the international laboratory either they've both been there for before they've both said it's like returning home uh and uh I don't think I'd complained about a little bit of extra time uh on board the space station either uh but safety is the priority and that's what we're here to see tonight uh Shel is asking what will happen to the capsule if it touches down safely Boeing will collect it just like they would have if there was a crew they'll uh make sure the area is safe they'll approach it um they may open it we'll have to see uh but uh they will be uh treating this as if it was a normal Boeing return Starliner return and then they will take get back and they will investigate unfortunately the area that had most of the problems is in their service module on Dragon we call it the trunk um that is the area for Starliner that has a lot of the thrusters and unfortunately that part we jettison prior to uh de uh excuse me re-entry so with that uh it is not something that we're going to be able to recover uh ly Gan is asking do you know how big the as pool is available people for space I don't have the exact number I know they accepted uh and were training I believe it was 12 or so new astronauts last year and they've just completed trading and they do that every few years so I'd say NASA's astronaut pool now is probably probably in the range of 40 to 50 um and then the esa UK Russia all have a group uh but I'd probably say there's less than 80 worldwide um that are ready not including China now we are expecting NASA to begin their live coverage here momentarily and the moment that they do we'll listen in for an update from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston for an update on how things are proceeding I'll be back giving more commentary updates throughout the stream so you can keep sending In Those Questions by taging us at the Launchpad also make sure you join us over on the TP Discord that's where our community hangs out in between streams and we would love to see you there also if you're interested in becoming part of the TP crew our applications are open and we would love to see some more of you join here on the TLP crew as we continue our mission to inform and Inspire the explorers of tomorrow cuz we believe that space is better together Starliner set to have its deorbit burn 26 minutes 30 seconds from now touchdown 1 hour 9 minutes 25 seconds away will Boeing Starliner make it home it's time to watch and listen and see what happens we are waiting an update from Johnson Space Center and we're hoping for some live views of re-entry as well uh 26 minutes away that hatch has been closed up at the top of Starliner that was confirmed Clos about an hour ago and teams are ready to bring Starliner home let's listen in to Johnson Space Center n is Johnson Space Center and our coverage of Boeing's crew flight test I'm Brandy Dean with NASA and I'm Lauren binki with Boeing Starliner safely Departed the International Space Station and is on its way back to Earth starlander is making its return autonomously tonight without Nas astronauts Butch Wilmore and senny Williams after a decision to return without crew was made during a flight test Readiness review last week but the team here in Michigan troll will be watching over star laner over the course of the next hour and a half as a spacecraft fires its engines to drop back into Earth's atmosphere and make its way down for a landing in New Mexico at about 11:00 p.m. central or midnight Eastern the team here is Led tonight by flight director Rick henfling with weather assistance from flight director Mike Lamers henling is just under 7 minutes away from polling the flight controllers here in the room on their Readiness for Starliner to perform its deorbit burn on at Starliner Landing Zone teams in Florida Houston and New Mexico have been monitoring the spacecraft mostly undocked from the International Space Station at 5:04 p.m. time while flying 260 miles over Central China NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and sunny Williams National Space Station in June is part of NASA's Boeing crew flight test a United launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from complex 31 at Cape canabal space force station in Florida that wasth they arrived at the International Space Station on June 6th during that June 6th Rendevous NASA and boing identified helium links and experienced issues with the starliners reaction control thesters as the spacecraft approach the space station since then engineering teams have completed a significant amount of work collecting and reviewing data conducting flight and ground testing hosting independent reviews with agency propulsion experts and developing various return contingency plans uncertainty and uh lack of expert concurrence did not meet the agency's safety and performance requirements for human space flight thus prompting NASA's decision to return Boeing Starliner spacecraft to Earth with without the astronauts but Wilmore and sunny Williams aboard the uncrewed return allows NASA to continue Gathering test data on Starliner during its up upcoming flight home while also not accepting additional risk for the crew lore and Williams meanwhile have uh formally joined the Expedition 7172 crew and are going to remain at the space station conducting science experiments and helping with maintenance through February 2025 they're going to fly home aboard a dragon spacecraft with two other crew members assigned to the agency's SpaceX crew n mission that is NASA astronauts Nick Haag and Rose Cosmos Cosmonaut Alexander goranov on Thursday afternoon the hatches were closed between Starliner and International Space Station and earlier today at 5:04 p.m. central the docking hooks released Starliner allowing it to separate and begin moving away from the space station and into place for its journey home you can see that uh video from earlier today playing here we saw a beautiful display of starliners thrust is there butore and SNY Williams also had some words to say for the teams here on the ground as Starliner was making its way away from the space station station Houston Space ground two for Starliner undock status go ahead we're with you hey Sunny both the Starliner and ISS flight control teams have pulled go for undock at this time the expected undock time is 2204 okay copy 2204 hey you know we're just looking at the flight control roster and like wow it is the All-Star team you guys it is the time to bring Calypso home you have got this where we have your backs and you've got this bring her back to Earth good luck sunny and Butch this is Chloe just on behalf of the entire Mo team and I know the other flight control teams around the building we thank you for your endless Support over the years we've enjoyed every training event and every meeting we remember every setback and every Revelation with you the teams on the ground have worked countless hours over the last few weeks months and for a group of us years to bring Calypso back and we're ready to do that today we wish you the best of luck in your increment and sunny I will make sure the right people have your Coming Home song ready to play on Space theg ground when it's time for you guys to come home good luck and thank you wonderful comments uh flight we appreciate that and we agree many years of uh great enjoyment um simming together uh playing together and being involved with each other's lives and it's been special um bring it home cppy thank you and have a good evening that again was a a conversation recorded earlier today between uh astronauts Sunny Williams and buch Wilmore talking with the Starliner flight director at the time of undocking Chloe miring since that undocking uh when Starliner and the space station were flying 260 miles above Central China Starliner has been steadily increasing the distance between it and the space station ensuring that it will be able to get in to Spa into place uh to perform a 1017 Central D orbit burn now about uh 20 minutes while it has been moving away the flat controllers here on the ground took the opportunity to perform a few test of starliners thrusters during the test the crew modules 12 small reaction control system thrusters one of the Jets didn't fire when commanded the reaction control system thrusters on the crew module are used to steer Starliner as it makes its way back to to Earth after the uh service module has been jettisoned because those 12 jets are divided into two redundant strings of six star ler only uses one string during normal operations so although this means a slight loss of redundancy it shouldn't keep Starliner from getting through reentry and Landing as expected yeah and Starliner has plenty of redundancy with this part of the prop system on the capsules so no impact to the deorbit burn or re-entry and it's not required for flight rules the team also tested to 10 of the 28 reaction control system jets in the service module after undocking and they all performed as expected and here on the ground the team just uh gave their go officially to Rick hling today's flight director meaning that uh tonight's Landing of Starliner is on that again is scheduled to happen touchdown at uh 11:00 p.m. central time or midnight Eastern Time time e once again flight director Rick hling has gotten a go from starliners for star for starliners deorbit burn from all of the flight controllers watching over the spacecraft's return tonight and that again means we are officially on for starliners return to Earth at about 11:00 p.m. central time or midnight Eastern the dart burn at uh 10:17 p.m. central Time Is Now just 17 minutes away that'll be a 59 second firing of four of Starliner orbital maneuvering and attitude control thrusters on starliners service module and joining us live from starliners Landing Zone with Whit Sands at wh Sands space Harbor in New Mexico our colleagues Leah Chesire from NASA public affairs and Boeing's Josh Barrett Le and Josh how is it going out there thanks Brandy it is going well out here uh we are out here in White Sands the weather right now is about 75 degrees and very light winds approximately six miles per hour uh this looks like potentially a picture from earlier today it is quite dark out here at this point we have a beautiful view of the stars and we are lined up in the Convoy getting ready to roll that's right Leah so I've been out here for both of Starliner previous Landings the first one was very cold the second one was quite warm and this one feels just about right uh we are following along with two command Vehicles we've got the mlcc or the mobile Landing control center uh they're tied in down in Mission Control in Houston with the people that you're seeing on your screen right now uh we also have the mdtv that's the mobile data and tracking vehicle and on top of that it's got a suite of Optics on top there's an infrared camera and two visible cameras one of them with a telescopic Focus so those will be the first things that we'll be seeing Starliner with here from The Landing Zone and you should be seeing those on your screens as well and Leah's got a few more things that she'll talk about that should get some cameras on Starliner as well yeah especially the WB 57 NASA plan that took off just a few hours ago uh just as we were heading out here to The Landing site so we arrived here at about 6: p.m. local time which is Mountain Time uh and since then have been getting ready lining up uh doing Communications checks between the various teams and just getting ready to eventually drive out to The Landing site once Starliner comes down so uh it is a sea of white gypsum sand out here um and teams are continuing to just prepare as soon as we get into that deorbit burn so they are actually in a h huddle right now talking through some of the next steps for tonight um getting ready to come and join us here in the Convoy as we await to see the deorbit burn so with that right now we are going to turn it back over to you Brandy and Lauren we are going to stick around though and cannot wait to see Starliner coming straight across the sky thank you thanks so much Leah and Josh we are hoping to get some good views from where you guys are at later today now once we make that final burn to get out of orbit today it'll take about 45 minutes for Starliner to reach its destination again white sand space Harbor in New Mexico where we just spoke with our colleagues from Starliner is currently flying with its solar arrays pointed toward the sun recharging the internal batteries to keep its systems powered through Landing the orbital maneuvering and attitude control thrusters or what we call omx will fire for about a minute to conduct the deorbit burn that maneuver slows the spacecraft down from orbital velocities and allows it to start falling back to Earth in a head down position at the end of that deorbit burn Starliner angles itself for re-entry the deorbit burn is just the first in a series of Milestones we're going to be taking off tonight to give you the full rundown uh deorbit burn is scheduled for 10:17 p.m. central as uh as we said we just got the go for that a few minutes ago it's going to be followed by the separation of the crew module from the service module at 10:20 p.m. and the crew module will then continue on on its own at 10:45 p.m. Starliner will begin to fill the uh effects of the Earth's atmosphere in for the first time since it's asent in June and a few minutes later around 10:47 the heat from Star liner's re-entry will become so intense that the pl that plasma will begin uh to form around the spacecraft causing a blackout in Communications with Starliner for about 4 and a half minutes once Starliner clears that blackout period things will begin to happen very quickly yeah so then up next at 10:56 when Starliner is about po 4.3 miles above Earth the spacecraft will be done with the forward heat shield that is at the top of the capsule that helped protect it through re-entry and it will jet Us in it to make way for the parachutes that are stored underneath and then almost immediately those parachutes will begin to deploy first with two smaller droke parachutes that are meant to take the edge off Starliner speed they open up in stages over the course of about 28 seconds and then at 1057 p.m. when Starliner is about 6 miles up the drug parachutes are released and through three main parachutes are deployed they also open in stages over about 16 seconds but they stay with the spacecraft all the way until touchdown and again we are expecting that touchdown to come at 11:00 p.m. central just before the touchdown however at 10:58 p.m. Starliner also sheds its based heat shield at the bottom of the capsule to make way for the inflation of six Landing airbags hidden underneath it and those will cushion the vehicle as it lands in New Mex Mexico's desert it's probably worth mentioning that we do not have uh video from Starliner if you think back to June on its ascent and journey to the International Space Station um it it's not able to send video down when it's not connected to space station so we won't be getting inflat views from it but we do have several cameras out at the Landing site as well as some aircraft in the area that where you're hoping to get some views from uh but of course it is going to be pretty dark out in the desert at night so um they may be infrared or black and white views um but hopefully we'll we'll get some some good uh camera views to show you and we're taking a live look now from The Landing site but uh the shot is quite dark at the moment you can see just a few lights blinking there uh hopefully as we get closer to the ground as Starliner gets closer down we will have some better shots e the landing and Recovery teams have been out in the desert preparing for the spacecraft's return for several days I've been speaking with them to catch up on some of the preps that have been taking place they ran through a full mission dress rehearsal where they practiced the landing and Recovery operation with all the different groups and functions and they've also been keeping a close eye on the wind direction to establish the best recovery zone out at White Sands they've even sent up some weather balloons to check the wind speeds tracking Vehicles out there are equipped cameras uh so the team has been calibrating those and again although we don't expect any views from Starliner on its way down we're hoping to get some good ones from those tracking cameras as well as aircraft in the area we plan to have the WB 57 getting views while it is um about 16,000 ft above the ground until the drog parachutes uh deploy and then at about 6,000 ft um we hope to see views from a Cessna in the area and this is actually a current view of the Cessna as it makes its way out to The Landing site white sand space Harbor in New Mexico and this is a shot from one of the ground cameras that we have on site so again although it is dark there we are hoping to to see um to see some good views and in the last few hours the teams there on the ground have been at the holding area loading up their vehicles doing last minute checks making sure all the equipment is ready to go and then shortly they'll begin moving into place to watch Starliner make its Final Approach and then once Starliner lands teams will move closer in a very strategic way they will first stop at about the 500t mark away from the spacecraft and then they'll move in closer to the 150t Mark wall ground teams safe the vehicle that first team on site with Starliner will be what we call the gold team they start recovery operations by performing what's called a sniff test where they use sensors to check for hydrazine one of the propellants that uh Starliner uses they'll be wearing protective gear known as hazmat suits to prevent exposure to hypergolic propellants hydrazine is uses as propellant and it if it turns into a vapor it can be toxic after the snift test they will notify the rest of the Convoy when it's safe to approach and then they're going to check the winds make sure the entire landing and Recovery team is staged uprange from the direction the wind is blowing for added protection now everyone out there is part of a different color team and they were vest with that color so it's very obvious who does what so the next up is the silver team and their first job is to ground the spacecraft Starliner will be powered down but there could be some residual electricity so before anyone can touch it they will ground it and discharge it teams here on the ground are reporting that um everything is getting into good configuration for the deorbit burn that's now just about um 6 and a half minutes away uh going on uh with the with what we were saying we also will have the blue team that documenting that documents everything that's going on at the Landing site these are phot photographers from both Boeing and NASA who have situational awareness cameras and again here's a current view of those teams all um ready to deploy at Landing yeah that's the holding site that we were mentioning and then of course you can see um the mountains there in the background in this black and white View and the Green Team hooks up the HVAC trailers to Starliner to get cooling on it but their first job is to put up an environmental enclosure on the spacecraft and that enclosure looks a lot like a big inflatable it wraps around the vehicle to get cool air around it and make sure the critical systems don't overheat then the red team opens the hatch that is mostly uh Boeing fire rescue they will back up the mobile access platform to Starliner hatch giving the team access and Starliner will be bringing back more than 900 lb of cargo including a nitrogen oxygen recharge system system or what we call nors tank that NASA um will service and refill for future space station needs the teams will unload that cargo before Starliner heads back to Florida just over 5 minutes to go now until tonight's uh 10:17 p.m. central Time deorbit Burn team here on the ground reports that Starliner has gotten into the right attitude uh kind of the right way it's pointing uh for that burn so everything is looking good we're on track for uh landing at 11:00 p.m. central midnight Eastern with just a couple minutes or four minutes left to go into the deorbit burn we're going to check in once again with the landing team and Leah Cheshire and Josh Barrett thanks Brandy yeah we are out here uh just waiting in the Convoy area now most of the team is taking part in a safety briefing right now as we prepare to uh watch the deorbit burn and the re-entry and then move in toward the spacecraft like you mentioned it's really dark out here Josh and I were just able to take in the really beautiful sight of uh the Milky Way it's so dark so once the capsule starts to reenter the Earth's atmosphere we expect we expect to have a pretty good view of the streak um as that plasma builds up around the capsule itself that's right we should be seeing it come just over the Southwest Horizon right through the saddle of kind of the mountains uh that are just overlooking the mountain range here and uh remembering back to of1 kind of the view that we should be having here is that we'll hear the Sonic booms as well after we see kind of that plasma envelope and then pretty quickly afterward it is pretty remarkable how quickly it does end up over our heads uh we'll see the flashes from uh the mortars which deploy those uh Fort heat shield parachutes which take the the fort heat shield off um then we start hearing those mortors those mortars and then the the uh parachutes start to deploy um and then it's kind of slow motion from there as it drifts down and we're seeing a lot of movement as teams have just completed that safety briefing here so they're now all walking to join us at the Convoy bo uh so it looks like we are just a few minutes away from the deorbit burn and the show is really getting on the road soon so with that we're going to turn it back over to you and Houston we are uh just over two minutes away from the deorbit burn at this point uh Starliner has moved well away from the International Space Station and quite a few kilometers ahead of it as well we had a number of uh smaller Burns to ensure that Starliner was at a safe distance away from the space station before it performs performs the de orbit burn that will bring it out of orbit and on its Journey back to Earth and flight director Rick henling and his team expect starliners orbital maneuvering attitude control thrusters also called omx to fire around 10:17 central time pushing the spacecraft out of its orbital flight path and onto its journey home this deorbit burn will set us up for a touchdown time of about 11 p.m. central or 10 p.m. Mountain Daylight time out there in White Sands New Mexico once it's there control teams in Houston will begin powering off starliners radiators and solar rays as the spacecraft now has enough power to get home and sublimator will be taking over cooling they use water to cool the cabin Starliner is also uh as we said now in the correct attitude for performing the deorbit burn and at this point the service module and crew capsule are still attached to each other four of the service modules 12 AF facting orbital maneuvering and attitude control engines are going to be powering the Dior burn allowing them to separate safely and those engines are each 1500lb thrusters meaning this burn will take about 6,000 lbs of thrust slowing Starliner from its current orbital velocity and bringing it back to Earth's atmosphere for a smooth Landing the small reaction control system or RCS thrusters assist here in holding Starliner in the correct attitude during this test flight our teams ran roughly a million computer mod model simulations showing all the different Thruster combinations possible for a safe return to Earth today just 20 seconds now until the burn starts it'll last uh 59 seconds and again you uh be firing those orbital maneuvering and attitude control thrusters four orbital maneuvering and attitude control thrusters on Starliner service module are now firing slowing Starliner down as a capsule against its Journey back to Earth this will take about 59 seconds to complete we're hearing a good all good uh all thrusters firing well so far can see here those uh those representation of those thrusters firing Starliner is maintaining its attitude and has as those large orbital maneuvering thrusters are firing smaller reaction control system thrusters are also working keeping the spacecraft in the correct position for the burn still looking good and we did see the uh durber burn cut off successfully teams here on the ground reporting a good burn Starliner is now on its way to wh sand space Harbor New Mexico and a planned touchdown at about 11:00 p.m. central midnight Eastern Time and if you're just joining us welcome here to the Launchpad with that confirmation Starliner is committed to re-entry the deorbit burn having been conducted 2 minutes ago burning for 59 seconds has locked Starliner in on a return to White Sand space Harbor in New Mexico touchdown 39 minutes 30 seconds from now you're looking at a view into NASA's Johnson Space Center and on the center of your screen you can see those uh graphs that are currently being updated with the latest Telemetry of the trajectory it's coming in on on on the far right side of your screen we do have the predicted path of re-entry with the times so if you do happen to be out in Mexico Baja California or New Mexico you may be able to see this otherwise very unlikely that you will uh but make sure if you do take a photo or video and send it into to us at TN official onx or Launchpad Network on Facebook or Instagram or via our Discord we're going to continue listening into Johnson mission control but we're answering your guys' comments and questions you can send those in the chat by taking us at the Launchpad and we'll work on answering those live many more things have to go right for Starliner to come home here tonight and we want to hear from you in the chat how do you think tonight's going to go perfect return and Landing a hard Landing does it technically land but in pieces or are we going to see a red we are now committed to re-entry Starliner is coming home and let's see how the next 38 and 1 12 minutes play out as the crew flight test of Boeing Starliner comes to an end let's listen back in into NASA and Boeing mission control and the service module has just jettisoned separated and is now falling away it will burn up during re-entry over a remote part of the Pacific Ocean and star liner will continue on its path to New Mexico where the landing and Recovery team is waiting for Touchdown Starliner is now angling itself and its heat shield for re-entry an entry interface is coming up in just about 10 minutes that's the hottest part of the re-entry process with Starliner heat shield reaching about 3,000 de to protect Starliner from those heat loads the spacecraft has what's called an ablative heat shield the outer surface of that Shield heats up to a gas which then carries the heat away from the crew module through convection and our team calls this process a game of Threes because during entry interface the heat shield will handle those temperatures of about 3,000 de but it convert that heat to about 300° with only 3 in of a blader and because of this protection during this hottest part of re-entry the inside of the spacecraft remains at about room temperature when Starliner returned from its last two flights the capsules landed with two black stripes up the sides indicating the heat shield was a bladed as intended so we do expect to see that again today and the team considers that a bit of a badge of honor e Ro e e once again uh we did see uh Starliner deorbit or uh performance deorbit burn on time at 10:17 p.m. Central Time and then quickly turned around and jettisoned its surface module now that it has performed its Duty over the course of the mission we are still about uh 20 minutes away from entry interface but things will start to happen quickly after that about four minutes after we go into the entry interface the heat from starliners reentry will become so intense that the plasma will begin to form around the spacecraft causing a blackout in Communications with Starliner for about 4 and a half minutes and after that we'll see Starliner Starliner jettison its forward heat shield that's been protecting the parachutes during GRE entry then when Starliner is around 30,000 ft above the ground the spacecraft's parachute sequence will begin two Dr par drog parachutes rather will uh start slowing Starliner down and then they'll detach and three main parachutes will deploy and inflate at about 3,000 ft off the ground the base heat shield jettison exposing the airbags and then at touchdown those airbags absorb the initial force of Landing cushioning the space spacecraft for a soft safe return to Earth e currently Starliner is about 23 miles above the uh South Pacific Ocean it's just past the southernmost portion of this final orbit coming around the uh southern coast of Australia and now is going to begin making its way northward towards uh the west coast of the United States for that um landing at 11:00 p.m. central Time midnight eastern time at wh sand space Harbor in New Mexico again we've had the deorbit burn that took place just as planned at 10:17 a 59c burn that uh changed the uh Starliner speed by about uh 290 mph 130 m/s that made way for the service module separation and the next Milestone we'll be watching for is the entry interface coming up around 10:45 still about 10 minutes away live view here of the uh recovery forces staged uh near The Landing site ready to move in when Starliner touches down we are taking off Milestones as expected for that 1100 p.m. central midnight Eastern or 10 p.m. mountain time touchdown today in New Mexico again Starliner performed its deorbit burn about 12 minutes ago the thrusters performed nominally and the flight home is going smooth e e e we're still about uh 14 minutes away from the entry interface which is our next Milestone I think I said earlier that we were 10 minutes away that was a mistake um but about 14 minutes from now we'll be experiencing the uh the atmosphere for the first time since star laner launched and since we do have a little time we're going to check back in with the landing team Lee and Josh how are things going out there thanks Brandy yeah that was a great of the uh Landing Convoy all lined up I was just watching some of the gold team members getting suited up as you mentioned earlier that's going to be the first team to come in and inspect the vehicle they're sniffing for those um hyper gools or any of those dangerous fumes before the rest of the teams get to go to move in and approach the capsule of course it's kind of a waiting game right now as we are still waiting to spot Starliner uh coming from the southwest so a lot of us are outside of the Convoy right now and keeping our eyes on the skies yeah that's right we're and we've got about just under probably three dozen vehicles I all lined up in three rows just waiting to get that touchdown signal again going through that Convoy list that you guys went through already so well behind that gold team after starliners declared safe the silver team moves in and they do the electrical grounding they'll also stabilize the vehicle just in case the airbag start deflating we make sure that the hatch has uh a good stable orientation for red team to come in and they're the ones with the hatch orientation uh and once uh the red team establishes hatch access actually the silver team has a fun job tonight in the dark they're going to go start looking for the pieces that came off of Starliner those heat shields uh some of those Lids from those those parachute mortars uh and then after that after red team has hatch access and opens up the hatch uh NASA's ISS program folks are going to come in for the cargo inspection so again again we are expecting to start seeing Starliner coming across the Horizon around the time that entry interface begins but until then just wanted to give you guys a hit from The Landing site and the latest that we have going on here so we'll toss it back over to you in Mission Control Houston thanks so much Le and Josh we are watching for that entry interface as well we're now about uh 12 minutes away Starliner continuing to make good progress uh following at 10:17 p.m. central Time D orbit burn again we're looking at the landing and Recovery team set up at the holding Zone there at White Sands Josh and Leah are embedded with that Convoy and they will make a very strategic move toward the spacecraft after touchdown first stopping at about the 500t mark and then they'll get the go to move forward to the 150 ft Mark and then once the vehicle is considered safe they will move in with the new orbit burn complete and uh the service mod module separated the spacecraft's heat shield is now exposed and ready to begin experiencing the atmosphere again uh the Starliner is going to make some final add adjustments that keep that heat shield pointing at exactly the right angle and next step after that is entry interface again just coming up in a few minutes at 400,000 ft above Earth Starliner faces temperatures of 3000° fah from the plasma created by air friction around the spacecraft but Starliner can handle that heat with its heat shield which is made of an ablade of material designed to keep the inside of the spacecraft at about 70° few minutes later Starline will experience an expected blackout in Communications and that will last for about 4 and A2 minutes at 30,000 ft in just 11 minutes before landing Starliner jettison its forward heat shield exposing the spacecraft's parachute system then two drug shoots will deploy in increasing drag and significantly slowing down Starliner then three pilot parachutes will pull out the main shoots allowing the spacecraft to continue its slow and stady descent for another 8,000 ft towards the landing Zone and once the main parachutes are fully inflated Starliner bucket handle releases and what that does is it just basically levels out the spacecraft ahead of touchdown and then the base heat shield that protected Starliner through re-entry will separate at about 3,000 fet uncovering The Landing airbags those airbags of course will fill with nitrogen allowing for Starliner to land softly and safely there in the sand less than 10 minutes to go now before we do get to that entry interface point and uh now just 20 24 and 1/2 minutes away from The Landing at wh sand space Harbor everything's pretty quiet in the room which is a good sign things are continuing to go smoothly as Starliner begins making it way making its way back to Earth you're taking a look there at flight directors Rick henfling on the left speaking with Mike Lamers on the right Rick is the flight director for this Landing operation Mike is weather flight director they are tag teaming this operation team has been keeping a close eye on weather at the Landing site but everything thing uh looks pretty good for tonight's touchdown yeah about 79° Fahrenheit out there they reported 10 miles visibility the winds are within the limits so we are looking good for a touchdown coming up right about 11:00 p.m. Central Time e 7 minutes to go now in tool entry interface and then uh that intense heating will start about 2 minutes after we do begin the interface that'll last about 4 and a half minutes during which time we'll be in a blackout starlander is currently about 130 miles 149 miles rather above uh the Pacific Ocean heading northward towards the western coast of the United States and it's touchdown in New Mexico we're taking a look here at the Landing trajectory there on the left of your screen you can see that line that crosses over the Baja Peninsula and that is the track Starliner will take as it makes its way into New Mexico as it gets closer to the ground people living in the area might get um a bright shot of Starliner coming back through the atmosphere and Landing there in White Sands New Mexico you can also see there in the center of the screen the uh to-do list basically before before we do get to Landing the service module separations highlighted in green because that one's already taken place and next up is the entry interface about 5 minutes away from now and flight controllers here in the room are reporting good attitude for that entry interface coming up again in just under 5 minutes e e and if you're just joining us you looking at a live view of white sand space Harbor and the recovery teams awaiting Boeing Starliner as it's set to have atmospheric interface and begin the final part of its re-entry we're just minutes away from that communication blackout beginning and the plasma buildup around Starliner officially bringing it back into the Earth's atmosphere if it's your first time here though welcome my name is Zach I'm the founder and host here at the Launchpad Network and here at to it's our mission to inform and Inspire the explorers of tomorrow cuz we believe that space is better together star liner launched with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and sunny Williams 93 Days 12 hours 51 minutes ago for an 8-day mission to the International Space Station after 93 days Starliner has Departed the space station but the crew remains on board Butch and sunny will now become part of crew 9 coming home in February of 202 5 crew 9 set to launch in a couple of weeks from now with only two astronauts on board leaving room for Butch and sunny we've been live bringing you full coverage all the way from prior to ISS undock through the deorbit burn and now here we are ready for atmospher interface and touchdown of the Boeing Starliner if you haven't yet take a moment engage that like button share out the stream again even if you have invite people back and join us as this is normally the most beautiful part of watching a capsule come home but also the scariest part does it make it through re-entry the most dangerous part really of most of these missions is coming back to Earth and fighting through the Earth's atmosphere we're going to listen back into NASA Johnson mission control and the teams down at White Sand space Harbor as we prepare for communication blackout at star with Starliner as it begins its 7 Minutes of re-entry as it heads back down to earth after 93 days in space you can keep sending in your questions in the chat by taking us at the Launchpad we'll work on answering those live and I'll answer or more on commentary following touchdown but godspeed Starliner come home less than a minute now until we begin uh entry interface again about two minutes after entry interface starts we'll begin seeing the heating uh really get intense and we'll go into a 4 and a half minute blackout e team here in the ground reporting entry interface has begun they're seeing a good range seeing another view from the uh Landing site or the the team's uh getting ready to move out to The Landing site here a little bit idea from this view of exactly how dark it is out there with all the lights of the vehicle shining a minute and a half until we move into the blackout period for Starliner and 14 and A2 minutes until we land in White Sands New Mexico the starer enters Earth's atmosphere at 17 times the speed of sound which could create a Sonic Boom for folks living in the area it will then be slowed down by parachutes to a speed very similar to what you might experience while going down an elevator inside a high-rise building the vehicle then comes to a safe comfortable stop at Landing 30 seconds now until the uh blackout period begin due to the compression of friction and friction of the air the molecules generate a very hot plasma that uh causes the red orange glow you often see appear here in postflight imagery on Min spacecraft although we won't get to see that tonight uh it will happen causes an expected communication Dropout this one will last 4 and a half minutes as the vehicle uh goes through a time when plasma interferes with a satellite signal we expect that to blank out to end around 10:52 p.m. central now this is also the time that I mentioned earlier where a Starliner in the past two flights has gotten that black um Mark along the sides of it and that just really proves to our team that the ablade of heat shield or the ablade of material um around Starliner is is doing its job and the heat shield is pushing that plasma away it's black out time again last about 4 and a half minutes we've got uh about 3 and a half left of it after that uh the milestones we will be watching for include a Ford heat shield jettison at 1056 when Starliner is about 4.3 miles above the Earth very soon after that uh almost immediately drug shoots deploy those uh give the give a little bit of an initial slowdown to the vehicle before the really uh large main parachutes deploy boy that happens when the Starliner is about 2 and 1 half miles above the Earth e that's this uh is a live view from the International Space Station where we're able to get a view of uh starliners track as it comes in we are now less than 10 minutes away from landing at White Sands space Harbor scheduled for uh 10 or 11: p.m Central also uh getting reports that the WB 57 is also able to see Star liner now as it begins coming in for its uh for its Landing we've still got just about a minute left to go before Starliner comes out of its uh blackout period and this is the view from the WB 57 one of NASA's aircraft that is uh at the uh Landing site has been uh been uh staged and ready to pick Starliner or pick up the view of Starliner as it comes in and that is what we are seeing now and they're filming this video from about 16,000 ft the bb57 should continue to uh give us a view until the drog parachutes deploy and then we hope to pick it up with the Cessna that is also in the area and flight controllers here in the room are reporting that we are out of that blackout period and everything is looking good Starliner remaining nominal as she returns to Earth again this is a view from the WB 57 Starliner showing a beautiful streak across the sky as she returns to White Sand New Mexico we're about 3 minutes away from the forward heat shield jettison that's the next Milestone we're looking for Starliner is currently about 27 miles above the earth and the team at White Sands reporting that they have seen it we got a tally hole from them uh reported uh remotely that means they are seeing Starliner from the ground they in New Mexico this view is coming from the Cessna that's also in the area picking up uh star now Starliner now from its lower altitude about 6,000 ft above whereas the WB 57 is about 16,000 ft up we are now just uh 6 minutes and 22 seconds away from Landing we should also just be a couple minutes away from the forward heat to jettison which will bring on the drog parachute deploy followed by the main parachutes and the strobe lights on Starliner are now on Starliner is now over the landing site and that strobe light will help the teams actually track star liner on the ground because it is very dark out there now about 12 miles above uh The Landing site and just 5 minutes away from Landing watching now for the forward heat shield jettison that should be coming up uh again making way from for the parachute deployment all right and that action you're seeing on your screen forward heat sheld and drugs out really interesting view of this uh coming down from the WB 57 see those two drug parachutes uh now now deployed they slow the uh vehicle down initially until it gets to a uh a safe uh speed for the enormous main parachutes to to follow about four minutes to go until touchdown now back to A View From Cessna aircraft in the uh vicinity of the landing site again this is a A View From a little lower than the WB 57 we were seeing the next thing we're going to see here is the three main parachutes come out and everything will happen pretty quickly from that point on after those are out we'll see the uh bottom heat Shi that has been protecting uh Starliner through its journey through the atmosphere come off that makes way for the landing airbags to deploy and there's the main parachutes there on your screen we see three out currently reefing and the teams at the uh Landing uh recovery teams report that they heard uh booms as those came out three good Mains fully open there you can see Starliner in a slight tilt so we're going to see the rotation handle move here shortly and it will level out Starliner but three good parachutes looking great just a little over 2 minutes until the expected Landing time and we heard the rotational handle has been released so you can see that uh tilt evened out next up is the back heat shield jettison and there it goes that again makes way for the airbag inflation nice to see that you can see the airbags deploying there on your screen those airbags are filled with nitrogen as they guide Starliner safely back to the desert floor just a beautiful sight as Starliner makes its way to the Sands of New Mexico and flight controllers confirming six good airbags view still coming to us from the cesna we've got uh about just about a minute left to go until the expected touchdown be watching for that time for you just about 15 seconds away from expected touchdown you're seeing the ground there in your screen as we get closer touchdown Starliner is back on Earth that Landing coming at 110 1 and 35 seconds Central Time 10:01 and 31 seconds mountain time at wh sand space haror at the US Army's Missile Range in New Mexico our landing and Recovery teams will now wait for clearance before making their way to the spacecraft one of the changes uh required with no crew on board is that the team here in the flight control room will be the ones to uh command the uh parachute uh to be cut away so that the wind doesn't pull the capsule along but uh that's no problem for them so uh now with that with Starliner down they can begin working on some of the post Landing to-do items again uh we saw Starliner touchdown at 11:01 p.m. central Time that's uh 1 minute after midnight eastern Time or 10:01 PM Central at the Landing site in New Mexico This Is A View From the Cessna still watching the drones slowly make their own way down uh those of course are the uh the drog parachutes that uh preceded the main parachutes uh first slowing Starliner down before the the large parachutes opened and really just a Flawless and beautiful Descent of Starliner today even heard some cheers and clapping in the background and some amazing views from White Sands space Harbor in New Mexico Boeing Starliner Calypso welcome back to Earth 93 days after launching left its crew on board the station but Calypso did it and has successfully landed at White Sands in New Mexico there it looked like a really great landing we're watching these drug shoots now come down as Crews prepare to approach the Starliner spacecraft we're not too sure how long NASA will stay live on this but congratulations Boeing on on bringing Calypso home and it looked like it was a beautiful ride back of course teams are going to have to evaluate a lot and there'll be lots of more news coming around Starliner over the weeks and months to come and you can catch that all right here on the Launchpad if it was your first time here welcome my name is Zach I'm the founder and host here at the Launchpad here at TLP it's our mission of to inform and Inspire the explorers of Tomorrow CU we believe that space is better together we just move down here to the Space Coast to bring you full coverage as we get ready to begin countdown to launch coverage for Artemis 2 there's so many more launches coming up the rest of this year we got Vulcan new Glenn Falcon 9 Falcon 9 crew Falcon heavy we've got Starship we've got pslv we've got soy we've got electron we've got h2a we've got H3 electron haste and who knows what else we're going to throw in there by the end of the year and we hope that you will join us here at the Launchpad as your live launch provider we're going to listen back into NASA Johnson for the remainder of this show of course we do have our countdown to launch coverage for pois Dawn running stay up to date on the latest developments for Polaris Dawn over on our live broadcast for that currently counting 51 hours and counting till launch targeting 3:38 a.m. Monday morning we'll be there live on site but let's listen back into NASA Johnson Space Center and the Boeing recovery Crews as they get ready to approach Calypso Starliner Calypso stay with us shot but there is a strobe light on Starliner that will will help the teams follow it out there and the uh recovery team is on the move but I think uh Leah chesar and Josh Barrett our colleagues out there may be able to give us one last update Le and Josh can you hear us great landing of calypso I don't think there could be birthday um obviously we did have really a great show we were able to see the cameras that you were watching too from the wb7 from the Cessna from the International Space Station but can I interrup you yes concur it's been a really amazing day we were hearing a bit from space to ground there uh but I think they've concluded unfortunately uh we'll see if we can get a recording of that for uh folks uh listening at home but Leah go ahead with your update yeah sorry about that couldn't hear that one here so uh but MC here Rick just wanted to offer that he's got one more hour here hey it's his birthday here yeah and that's what counts yeah it was a it was a good Landing it's pretty awesome you guys are are the best you are the best thank you Sunny Williams there uh offering a a slightly early happy birthday to Flat director Rick hling he will be uh celebrating his birthday on September 7th but technically in Houston we're still a little less than an hour away from that uh they are of course already um on uh uh September 7th in at the International Space Station but if you were still with us we will still take that update if you can give it to us yeah so as I was saying we got to see the capsule and the plasma Trail coming up over the mountains uh from the southwest and uh we were all still standing outside the Convoy to watch that happen but the most unexpected part was when I could hear the main parachutes being deployed it was very fade just a little bit of a rumble um but that strob light really helped us identify Starliner as it was descending and it would reflect a little bit up onto those parachutes so we actually had a decent view as it was coming down under those shoots and now we are uh actually on the drive out and we can see the strobe light it's giving us a great direction as we head toward the capsule yeah that's right we are actually making our way down the uh former space shuttle Runway uh literally driving right down the middle of it uh Starliner is a little bit towards the southern end so we see that strobe uh kind of in the in the distance there um but we will make our way to the fin 500 foot Mark where go team will will move in and begin their assessments and then uh once they declare that uh operations proximity operations can begin uh the recovery obstacle will really get underway and with that I think uh we were gonna toss it back to you Brandy and Lauren if you don't hear it from us again tonight just wanted to say thanks for uh letting us be part of the broadcast and give you the perspective of all the hardworking ground teams both NASA and Boeing out here at White Sands in New Mexico so with that sending it back over to michig control Houston thanks so much Josh and Leah it's great to see Starliner home and uh I I envy you the up close view but we appreciate your updates I do too star ler Starliner has returned safely well done to the entire team for completing the mission with a successful undocking deorbit and Landing Starliner has once again proven herself a safe ride to from space on behalf of the entire Boeing team welcome home Calypso and with that we will also wrap up our coverage tonight um we would like for you to stay tuned for our 12 uh30 a.m. post Landing news conference that is uh 12:30 a.m. Central Time so about an hour and a half a little less than an hour and a half from now when we'll be giving you uh final uh final thoughts on um the activities of the night but Starliner is home again The Landing came at 11:01 p.m. central Time and with that we will sign off thank you so much for following along with us this is Michigan drol Houston and with that Boeing Starliner Calypso is home if it was your first time here on the Launchpad Network welcome my name is Zach I'm the founder and host here we're broadcasting from our TP Space Coast HQ in studio make sure you engage that subscribe button to stay up to date on the latest launch coverage space news updates and exclusive one-on-one interviews looking at the launch schle ahead we've got Polaris Dawn launching on a historic mission on Monday we have a radar 8 launch on an H2 rocket next Wednesday as well as a soyu launching to the International Space Station with the Russian crew you can catch that all live right here on the Launchpad Network you can stay up to date on the latest launches at TLP network.com launches that's where our upto-date launch calendar is and join us in our community over at on our TLP Discord the link is in the description and in the chat and we'd love to see you there if you too would like to help inform and Inspire the explorers of tomorrow you can become part of our team by filling in an application we expanding our team with moderators rocket Chasers launch commentators journalists and more so definitely check that out positions available around the world uh to volunteer on our team that is going to do it though for us wrapping up an incredible 93 days since Starliner launched over a 100 days of coverage of countdown to launch of the Starliner crew flight test but just like that Starliner I beg to say cft1 Mission mostly complete we still got to get the crew home but they're coming home on crew 9 that's going to do it for us from our TLP space Co Studio we will see you next time because space is better together welcome home Calypso good night