Beoing Brings Home Starliner, Without NASA's Astronauts Butch Wilmore And Suni Williams.

seeing another view from the uh Landing site or the the team's uh getting ready to move out to The Landing s side here a little better 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 start liner and 14 and 1/2 minutes until we land in white sand New Mexico the star lanter 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 that Landing the 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 in postflight imagery on Min spacecraft that way we won't get to see that tonight uh it will happen causes an expected communication Dropout this one will last 4 and A2 minutes as the vehicle uh goes through a time when plasma interferes with a satellite signal we expect that blank out to end around 105 2 pm Central 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 ablative heat shield or the ablative material um around Starliner is is doing its job and the heat shield is pushing that plasma away it's blackout time again uh last about 4 and 1/2 minutes we've got uh about 3 and 1/2 left of it after that uh the Milestones will be watching for include uh Ford heat shield jettison at 1056 when ster liner is about 4.3 Mi above the Earth very soon after that uh almost immediately drog shoots deploy those uh give the give a little bit of an initial slow down to the vehicle before the really uh large main parachutes deploy that happens when the Starliner is about 2 and 1 half miles above the Earth e e this uh is a live view from the International Space Station where we're able to get a view of uh Starliner track as it comes in we are now less than 10 minutes away from landing at the White Sands at space Harbor scheduled for uh 10 or 11:00 p.m. central also uh getting reports that the w57 is also able to see Starliner 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 a view from the wb-57 one of NASA's aircraft that is uh at the uh Landing s is been uh been uh staged and ready to pick a Starliner or pick up the view of Starliner as it comes in and that is what we were 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 drogue 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 Sands New Mexico we're about 3 minutes away from the forward heat shield jetsin that's the next Milestone we're looking for Starliner is currently about 27 miles above the earth and the team at uh White Sands reporting that they have seen it we got a Telly hole from them uh reported uh remotely that means they are seen Starliner from the ground there 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 still jettison which will bring on the drove 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 of uh The Landing site and just 5 minutes away from Landing watching now for the forward heat shield Jenison that should be coming up uh again making way from for the parachute deployment all right and that action you're seeing in your screen forward heat shield and drugs out really interesting view of this uh coming down from the wb-57 see those two drug parachutes uh 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 the 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 Mains are out we'll see the uh bottom heat shield 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 in 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 Starlin are 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 wait 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 few 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 e just about 15 seconds away from expected touchdown you're seeing the ground there in your screen as we get closer e touchdown Starliner is back on Earth that Landing coming at 11:01 and 35 seconds Central Time 10:01 and 31 seconds mountain time at White Sand space armor 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 uh the wind doesn't pull the capsule along but uh that's no problem for them so uh now with the with Starliner down they can begin working on some of the post Landing to do items again uh we saw Starliner touchdown at 110 1 p.m. central Time that's uh 1 minute after midnight eastern Time or 10:01 p.m. 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 the 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 e this again is the drug parachut still uh still making their way to the ground after Starliner has touched down with its main parachutes touchdown came at 11:01 p.m. central Time the team here uh in missig control will be working through some post Landing steps now view here of Starliner at its Landing site in uh White Sands at space Harbor Landing recovery teams will soon begin making its way out to them to uh begin recovering the spacecraft team here in uh mission control is pulling right now to see if everybody is ready to power off the vehicle that again is a step that the flight control team has taken over with the uh with the uh lack of crew on board once the spacecraft is is powered down they will be transitioning control of the spacecraft over to the landing and Recovery team and it's a little difficult to see in this shot but there is a strobe light on Starliner that will help the teams follow it out there [Applause] and the uh recovery team is on the move but I think uh Leah Chesire and Josh Barrett our colleagues out there may be able to give us one last update 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 WB 57 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 uh MC here Rick just wanted to offer that he's got one more hour here hey it's his birthday stay 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