Update for 12:20 a.m. EDT on Sept. 7: Boeing's first Starliner spacecraft to carry astronauts landed safely, without its astronaut crew, early Saturday after a relatively smooth undocking, reentry and landing. Read our full story and see landing video. 

Boeing's first Starliner capsule to carry astronauts to the International Space Station left the orbiting lab on Friday (Sept. 6) leaving its crew behind as it prepares for landing, which you can watch live online tonight. 

The uncrewed Starliner spacecraft undocked from the station at 6:04 p.m. EDT (2204 GMT) aqs both craft sailed 260 miles above central China on Friday evening. It is scheduled to land on the desert floor of White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico at about 12 a.m. EDT (0400 GMT) on Saturday, Sept. 7. You can watch that landing live online, beginning at 10:50 p.m. EDT (0250 GMT), courtesy of NASA. See our Boeing Starliner live updates for ongoing coverage.

"She's on her way home. Congratulations to the undocking team," NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, who launched on the Starliner with crewmate Butch Wilmore on June 5, radioed to Mission Control from inside the ISS as her spacecraft drifted away without her. NASA decided to return the Starliner home without crew due to thruster concerns, though the capsule's thrusters appeared to work fine during undocking.

Starliner's Crew Flight Test (CFT) to the International Space Station (ISS) — the capsule's first-ever human spaceflight — lifted off on June 5 and docked with the orbiting complex on June 6, although the first docking attempt was waved off. Starliner experienced helium leaks before launch and, during docking, five of its 28 reaction control system thrusters went offline. 

CFT was originally supposed to last about 10 days. But NASA authorized a mission extension that eventually stretched to about three months, to allow for extensive ground and space testing on Starliner's propulsion system before senior agency reviews authorizing the spacecraft to land. 

NASA ultimately decided that sending CFT's two astronauts, Wilmore and Williams, home on Starliner was too risky. So the duo will ride home on a SpaceX Crew Dragon in February 2025, while Starliner will return to Earth uncrewed.