NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test Re-entry and Landing

good evening and welcome to NASA's Johnson Space Center and our coverage of Boeing's crew flight test I'm Brandy Dean with NASA and I'm Lauren brinky with Boeing Starliner safely Departed the International Space Station and is on its way back to Earth Starliner is making its return autonomously tonight without Nas astronauts Butch Wilmore and sunny 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 Starland 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 and fling is just under 7even minutes away from polling the flight controllers here in the room on their Readiness for Starliner to perform a c orbit 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 5:4 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 Canaveral space sport station in Florida that wasth they arrived at the International Space Station on June 6th during that June 6 Rendevous NASA and Boeing identified helium links and experienced issues with the Starliner reaction control festers as the spacecraft approached 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 in 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 without the astronauts but jmore and sunny Williams aboard the uncrewed return allows NASA to continue Gathering test data on Starliner during its upcoming flight home while also not accepting additional risk for the crew lumore 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 Russ Cosmos Cosmonaut Alexander goranov on Thursday afternoon the hatches were closed between Starliner and International Space Station and earlier today at 5:4 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 thrusters there butore and SNY Williams also had some words to say for the teams here on the ground as it Starliner was making its way away from the space station station Houston Space to 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 allstar 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 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 ground when it's time for you guys to come home good luck and thank you wonderful comments uh flight we appr 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 Butch Wilmore talking with the Starling flight director at the time of undocking Chloe miring since that undocking uh when Starliner and the space station were flying 260 Mi above Central China Starliner has been steadily increasing the distance between it and the space station ensuring that it will be able to get into to Spa into place uh to perform a 1017 p.m. central deorbit 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 a few test of Starliner 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 down to earth after the uh service module has been jettisoned because those 12 jets are divided into two redundant strings of six Starliner only uses one string during normal operations so although this means a slight loss of redundancy it shouldn't keep keep Starliner from getting through re-entry and Landing as expected yeah and Starliner has plenty of redundancy with this part of the prop system on the capsule so no impact to the deorbit burn or re-entry and it's not required for flight rules the team also tested 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 henfling 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 e e once again flight director Rick hling has gotten a go from starliners for star for starers 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 newor 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 starliners orbital maneuvering and attitude control dusters on Starliner service module and joining us live from Starliner Landing Zone with White Sands in 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 6 miles 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 uh on your screens as well and Leah's got a few more things that she'll talk about that uh should get some cameras on Starliner as well yeah especially the w57 nasus planing 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 6:00 pm. 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 going to just prepare as soon as we get into that deorbit burn so they are actually in a 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 Max 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 again for the first time since its 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 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 mil 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 jettison 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 10:57 p.m. when Starliner is about 6 miles up the drug parachutes are released and 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: 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 Mexico's desert it's probably worth mentioning that we do not have a 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 the space station so we won't be getting INF flag 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 uh 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 practice 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 checking Vehicles out there are equipped cameras uh so the team has been calibrating those and on 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 drove 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 night 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 while 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 starer uses they'll be wearing protective gear known as hazmat suits to prevent exposure to hypergolic propellants hydrazine is used as propellant and it if it turns into a vapor it can be toxic after the sift 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 U range from the direction the wind is blowing for added protection now everyone out there is part of a different color team and they wear a 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 1/2 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 photographers from both Boeing and NASA who have situational awareness cameras and again here's a a current view of those teams all um ready to deploy at Landing yeah that's the holding site that we were mentioning in the and 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 lbs of cargo including a nitrogen oxygen recharge system or what we call noris 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 e with just a couple minutes or four minutes left to go until 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 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 uh which deploy those uh Fort heat shield parachutes which take the the fort heat shield off um then we start hearing those more doors or 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 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 orbit 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 deorbit burn that will bring it out of orbit and on its Journey back to Earth and flight director Rick henfling 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 11:00 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 star ler is also uh as we said now in the correct attitude for performing the deorbit burn and at this point service module and crew capsule are still attached to each other four of the service modules 12 AF basting orbital maneuvering and attitude control engines are going to be powering the deor burn allowing them to separate safely and those engines are each 1500b 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 R and attitude control thrusters for orbal 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 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 Harper New Mexico and a planed touchdown at about 11:00 p.m. central midnight Eastern Time next up on the uh to-do list for tonight is the separation of the service module with the service modules job done it'll be disposed of over the Pacific Ocean leaving the uncrewed crew module to carry on alone in addition to all its other jobs the service module has spent the flight protecting the crew module's heat shield Jing it uncovers that critical piece of equipment allowing it to shelter the spacecraft as it begins traveling back through the Earth's atmosphere the crew module will then make its final attitude adjustments to make sure the heat shield is at exactly the right angle to provide that protection and those fine-tuned adjustments are really just a strong capability of Starliner guidance navigation and control system in fact on the two previous flights Starliner made Bullseye Landings thanks to that system starliners maneuvering into position for that jettison at this time team here on the ground reporting that uh Starliner in a good attitude pointing the right direction for the service module separation and the service module has just jettison separated and is now falling away it will burn up during re-entry over a remote part of the Pacific Ocean and Starliner 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 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 Dees to protect Starliner from those heat loads the spacecraft has what's called an ablative heat shield the outer surface of that Shield sh 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 will 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 4 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 starliners 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 drone 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 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 port 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 Whit 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 change the uh Starliner speed by about uh 290 miles per hour 130 MERS per second that made way for the service module separation and the next Milestone we'll be watching for is an entry interface coming up around 10:45 still about 10 minutes away e live view here of the uh recovery forces staged uh near The Landing site ready to move in once Starliner touches down we are taking off Milestones as expected for that uh 11:00 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 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 now will be experiencing the uh the atmosphere for the first time since Starliner launched and since we do have a little time we're going to check back in with the landing team Le and Josh how are things going out there thanks Brandy yeah that was a great view 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 the rest of the teams get the 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 we've got about just under probably three dozen Vehicles 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 Starliner declared safe the silver team moves in and they do the electrical grounding they'll also stabilize the vehicle just in case the airbags 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 liner 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 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 in Mission Control Houston thanks so much Le 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 hold in 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 500 foot 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 e 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 attitude 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 3,000 de F 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 star 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 Dro 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 steady 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 ft 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 a half 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 Starline ER 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 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 1/2 minutes during which time we'll be in a blackout starlander is currently about 13 miles 149 r 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 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 e e 2 and 1 half minutes left before Starliner begins to fill the effects of the Earth's atmosphere again everything uh continuing to go smoothly FL controllers here in the room are quiet as they're working through their steps but all uh going well so far Starliner is in position to begin experiencing that heat from re-entry now less than 100 miles above the Earth and heading towards the Baja Peninsula we'll be flying over that before landing in New Mexico just 17 minutes to go into landing e less than a minute now until we begin uh entry interface again about 2 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 team here in the ground reporting entry interface has begun they're seeing 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 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 Starliner and 14 and a half minutes until we land in White Sands 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 at Landing e 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 although we won't get to see that tonight uh it will happen causes an expected communication Dropout this one will last 4 and 1/2 minutes as the vehicle uh goes through a time when plasma interferes with a satellite signal we expect that blank out to end around 10:52 p.m. 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 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 1/2 minutes we've got uh about 3 and A2 left of it after that uh the Milestones will be watching for include a Ford heat shield jettison at 1056 when starliners about 4.3 Mi 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 that happens when the Starliner is about 2 and a 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 space Harbor scheduled for uh 10 or 11:00 p.m. central also uh getting reports that the WB 57 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 aircraft that is uh at the uh Landing site has 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 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 Sands 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 Telly hole from them uh reported uh remotely that means they are seeing 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 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 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 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 few still coming to us from the Cessna 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 1101 and 35 seconds Central Time 10:01 and 31 seconds mountain time at wh 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 11:01 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 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 e this again is the drug parachute still uh still making their way to the ground after Starliner has touchdown with its main parachutes touchdown came at 11:01 p.m. central Time the team here uh in Mig control will be working through some post Landing steps now view here of star laner at its Landing site and 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 is taken over with the uh with the uh lack of crew on board once the spacecraft 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 and the uh recovery team is on the move but I think uh Leah Cheshire and Josh Barrett our colleagues out there may be able to give us one last update Leah and Josh can you hear us great landing of calypso I don't think there could 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 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 slightly early happy birthday to 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 Leah 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 fake 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 former space shuttle Runway 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 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 going to 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 and 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 uh 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