Scheduled for Friday

“Starliner” will return to Earth without crew

The "Starliner" spacecraft (pictured) is due to undock from the ISS space station during the course of Friday and return to Earth unmanned.(Bild: AP)

The Starliner spacecraft, which has been plagued by technical problems, is to undock from the International Space Station (ISS) and return to Earth unmanned on Friday. This was announced by the US space agency NASA on Wednesday.

Due to numerous technical problems, manufacturer Boeing and NASA have decided that a return with astronauts on board would be too dangerous. The fully automated capsule will touch down six hours after undocking at the White Sands rocket training site in the state of New Mexico, according to the statement.

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who flew with the crisis-ridden capsule to the ISS space station on June 5, must continue to wait at humanity's outpost in space.

The "Starliner" spacecraft (pictured) is due to undock from the ISS space station during the course of Friday and return to Earth unmanned.(Bild: AP)

Capsule plagued by several technical problems
The "Starliner" is struggling with technical problems such as a "sticky" oxidizer valve and several helium leaks. It also recently became known that the spaceship has started to make strange, spooky, knocking noises - as reported by krone.at - that cannot be explained.

Should become an alternative to Musk's "Crew Dragon"
The "Starliner" is a partially reusable spacecraft consisting of a capsule around three meters high for the crew and a service module. Unlike SpaceX's "Crew Dragon", it does not land on water, but on Earth.