Boeing Starliner spacecraft lands back on Earth

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft has completed its journey back to Earth - but the astronauts it was supposed to be carrying remain behind on the International Space Station.

The empty craft had been travelling in autonomous mode after undocking from the orbiting lab.

The capsule, which suffered technical problems after it launched with Nasa's Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on board, was deemed too risky to take the astronauts home.

 Boeing launched the Starliner on June 5, marking the spacecraft’s first manned flight to the space station. On board the craft were astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams. They were originally scheduled to remain in orbit until June 18. But due to problems with the spacecraft’s thrusters during its rendezvous with the space station, the return date was pushed back first to June 26 and then indefinitely. NASA eventually decided that the astronauts would return to Earth as part of the SpaceX Crew-9 mission in February 2025.