Boeing's Starliner capsule is set for a critical return to Earth this week ... This mission comes after months of delays and technical problems that have plagued the Starliner program.

But for Boeing, such delays have proved costly ... administrators held a news conference last month to discuss Starliner’s return. Credit...Mark Felix/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images ...

After years of delays, Starliner launched in June for what ... design of the ship and the way it is flown. Ahead of the return leg, Boeing carried out extensive ground testing to address the ...

Boeing said as recently as August 2 that its “confidence remains high” that Starliner could return with crew ... through years of delays, development setbacks and errors in flight.

It was an uneventful close to a drama that began with the June launch of Boeing’s long-delayed crew debut ... decided it was too risky to return them on Starliner. So with fresh software ...