Washington DC: Sunita Willams Message Boeing's spacecraft Starliner, which carried NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore to space, returned empty to Earth on Saturday.

This spacecraft departed from the International Space Station on Friday. Sunita Williams has also given a statement regarding this.

Starliner landed on Earth 

Boeing said on Saturday that the deorbit pole of the empty Starliner spacecraft was completed and the landing phase from the deorbit burn to landing took 44 minutes. The Starliner landed at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.

What did Sunita Williams say?

Before the uncrewed Starliner spacecraft returned to Earth, astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore both called flight controllers and gave emotional messages to the team. They thanked them for their cooperation.

"It is time for you guys to bring Calypso back home. We are with you and please bring it back to Earth soon," Sunita further said in the radio message, referring to the spacecraft's nickname.

Why was Sunita's return delayed?

Let us tell you that Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams flew to space on June 5 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard the Starliner, which reached the orbiting International Space Station on June 6. It was expected that both would return on the same flight in 8 days.

As Starliner approached the orbiting lab, NASA and Boeing identified a helium leak and a problem with the spacecraft's reaction control thrusters, delaying both their returns.

For the safety of the astronauts, NASA announced on August 24 that the Starliner would return to Earth from the station without a crew.

When will Sunita return?

Sunita Willams' eight-day mission has now become eight months long. However, Sunita will remain busy in space with Barry Wilmore. Both will help in repair work in the space station. Now NASA has also decided the time to bring them back. Both will be brought back in a new spacecraft in February 2025.