Watch live as a disabled Boeing Starliner returns to Earth without its crew

Boeing’s Starliner is preparing for its long-awaited return to Earth, leaving behind two astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS). It won’t be routine, as the Starliner will have to quickly and safely depart the ISS despite its faulty thrusters and helium leaks.

The disabled Boeing spacecraft is scheduled to undock from the space station at 6:04 p.m. ET on Friday, beginning its six-hour journey home. The crew capsule returns without a crew aboard, with a target of landing at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico at 12:03 a.m. ET on Saturday. As part of its undocking, Starliner will perform a startup burn that is meant to reduce pressure on its thrusters and help it drift away from the space station more quickly.

The undocking and return of the spacecraft will be streamed live on NASA’s website and the space agency’s YouTube channel. You can also watch it live below. The livestream will begin at 5:45 p.m. ET Friday for the undocking of the spacecraft and will resume at 10:50 p.m. ET for Starliner’s scheduled landing.

Boeing’s first manned flight to the ISS is finally coming to an end after a less-than-ideal journey to orbit. And that’s an understatement. The spacecraft launched to the ISS on June 5, carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunni Williams. Starliner has been docked with the space station for three months, while ground teams debated whether or not to bring the crew back aboard the troubled spacecraft.

During its journey to the ISS, five of the spacecraft’s thrusters failed and the spacecraft developed five helium leaks, one of which was identified before liftoff. Mission teams conducted ground tests to try to identify the primary problem causing the thruster issue before ultimately deciding to return an uncrewed Starliner and bring its crew back aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft.

The two astronauts, Williams and Wilmore, will return on SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission. The Starliner crew is now scheduled to return in February 2025, after spending about eight months in space, compared to the original plan to spend eight days on the ISS.

The crewed test flight is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program and aims to transport crews and cargo to and from the ISS under a $4.3 billion contract with the space agency. NASA’s other commercial partner, SpaceX, has so far launched eight crews to the space station and is preparing not only to launch its ninth crew but also to bring home stranded Starliner astronauts.

Starliner’s uncrewed return is a major blow to the program, which has suffered numerous delays and technical issues over the years. Let’s just hope the ship’s journey to Earth goes better than its journey to space. As for the future of the Starliner program, no one knows.

More: A look back at Boeing’s 10-year struggle to put humans in the air on the Starliner