Science News Roundup: Boeing Starliner is 'healthy', NASA; 'Bull's-eye' landing caps faulty test mission and more

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

NASA says Boeing Starliner is 'healthy', to land in New Mexico

The Boeing Co Starliner spacecraft that failed to reach the right orbit to reach the International Space Station is "healthy," in a stable orbit and expected to land in New Mexico on Sunday morning, NASA said on Saturday. The Boeing CST-100 Starliner astronaut capsule was successfully launched from Florida on Friday, but an automated timer error prevented the spacecraft from attaining the correct orbit for it to rendezvous and dock with the space station. NASA and Boeing's officials said on a Saturday conference call they are still investigating the causes of the failure.

'Bull's-eye' landing caps Boeing's faulty astronaut capsule test mission

Boeing Co's Starliner astronaut spacecraft made a "bull's-eye" landing in the New Mexico desert on Sunday, a successful ending to a crewless test mission that two days earlier failed to reach the orbit needed to dock with the International Space Station. The 7:58 a.m. ET (1258 GMT) landing at the White Sands desert capped a turbulent 48 hours for Boeing's botched milestone test of an astronaut capsule that is designed to help NASA regain its human spaceflight capabilities.

Boeing's failed Starliner mission strains 'reliability' pitch

Boeing Co's stunted Friday debut of its astronaut capsule threatens to dent the U.S. aerospace incumbent's self-declared competitive advantage of mission reliability against the price and innovation strengths of "new space" players like Elon Musk's SpaceX. Boeing, the world's largest aerospace company, has anchored its attempt to repel space visionaries like Musk and Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos partly on its mission safety record built up over decades of space travel.

Boeing's Starliner astronaut capsule fails key test to reach space station

Boeing Co's new astronaut capsule failed after liftoff on Friday to climb high enough in orbit to reach the International Space Station, cutting short a critical unmanned test mission in the embattled aerospace giant's race to send humans to the orbital outpost. The CST-100 Starliner astronaut capsule was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida, but an automated timer error, which Boeing could not immediately explain, prevented the spacecraft from attaining the orbit that would have put it on track to rendezvous and dock with the space station, NASA said.