Over the last two weeks Boeing has been conducting an uncrewed orbital flight test of its Starliner spacecraft.

The test saw the craft launched to the International Space Station (ISS) last week. The craft launched atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket and spent a few hours performing system demos to verify it was healthy and safe before docking with the ISS.

Now, in the early hours of this morning, the Starliner spacecraft touched down at the US Army’s White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

“We have had an excellent flight test of a complex system that we expected to learn from along the way and we have,” vice president and manager of the Boeing Commercial Crew Program, Mark Nappi said in a statement.

“Thank you to the NASA and Boeing teammates who have put so much of themselves into Starliner,” Nappi added.

The flight test included the following demonstrations:

• “Performance of the Atlas V rocket and Starliner through launch, ascent, on-orbit, re-entry and landing
• Showcasing of Starliner’s autonomous software and on-orbit operations of its avionics, docking, communications/telemetry, environmental, electrical power and propulsion systems as well as the solar arrays
• Ability to hold docking attitude, receive commands from the space station crew, and command holds and retreats during final station approach
• Battery charging, hatch open and close, establishing joint ventilation with the station, file transfer and cargo transfer.”

Boeing says that Starliner needs to complete one more flight to fulfil NASA’s goal of having two commercial spacecraft transporting astronauts to and from the ISS. There is work to be be done before that though including learning from this test.

“With the completion of OFT-2, we will incorporate lessons learned and continue working to prepare for the crewed flight test and NASA certification,” concluded Nappi.