Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft landed in a New Mexico desert late on Friday, months after its original departure date and without the two astronauts it carried when it launched in early June.
Starliner returned to Earth seemingly without a hitch, a Nasa live stream showed, nailing the critical final phase of its mission.
The spacecraft re-entered Earth’s atmosphere around 11pm ET at orbital speeds of roughly 27,400km/h (17,025mph). About 45 minutes later, it deployed a series of parachutes to slow its descent and inflated a set of airbags moments before touching down at the White Sands Space Harbor, an arid desert in New Mexico.
Alex baumgardner jumped from the balloon from basically space, why haven’t they figured out a way to do it from low orbit yet?
Because he wasn’t moving very fast… To be in orbit you need to be traveling around the earth extremely quickly. The problem is slowing down, not the altitude.
Because he jumped while in the stratosphere (middle level of 3-level atmosphere surrounding the earth). Therefore he didn’t have to manage the friction and heat that space shuttles have to endure when they enter the uppermost mesosphere, then stratosphere, then troposphere.
