美国波音公司研制的宇宙飞船未能进入正确的地球轨道与国际太空站对接，但正沿一稳定轨道飞行，计划不久在美国新墨西哥州着陆。

波音公司CST-100星际线（Starliner）宇宙飞船是星期五（12月20日）从佛罗里达州发射升空的。路透社说，一个自动计时故障导致飞船未能进入正确的地球轨道，与国际空间站实现对接。美国国家航空航天局（NASA）星期六（12月21日）表示，这艘飞船目前正沿一个稳定的地球轨道健康飞行，预计星期天上午在美国新墨西哥州着陆。

国家航空航天局和波音公司代表在星期六举行的电话会议中说，这艘飞船升空后，波音的自主软件导致飞船错误判断了地球轨道，并过早地点燃了自身携带的助推火箭，耗费了大量的燃料。地面人员试图人为纠正这个自动的错误，可通过国家航空航天局的卫星通讯网络发出的飞行控制指令由于飞船的错误位置而出现了延误。

国家航空航天局和波音公司人员说，他们正在调查故障的原因，并表示，之前进行的广泛试验并没有发现任何问题，他们也感到吃惊。官员们强调，这并不代表飞船挑战使命的终结。

Chris Ferguson sent this note to Starliner employees Friday evening.

Team,

While we were off to a perfect on-time launch this morning, as most of you know by now, the team was presented with unique and unanticipated trajectory challenges shortly after we separated from the launch vehicle. By all measures the Atlas/Centaur performed very well. However, a combination of on-board timing issues and challenges commanding the vehicle resulted in an incomplete orbit insertion burn and higher than planned propellant usage.

We are currently in a safe orbit thanks to the timely actions of the Mission Operations and Mission Support Room teams. The professionalism and poise under what have certainly been the most demanding conditions this veteran team has ever experienced is a testament to their pre-flight preparation and training.

We are working several options to recover Spacecraft 3 at one of our Western U.S. landing locations within the next 48 hours and are approaching the next few days with guarded optimism of a successful recovery. Our Landing and Recovery teams are executing their pre-planned contingency deployment to White Sands Missile Range and will be in position by later this evening to make a fully supported recovery.

To coin a golf analogy, anyone can play in the fairway . . . only true champions can win while playing out of the rough. Said another way, we will be judged not by our mistakes, but rather by the poise under pressure we demonstrate as we recover from them. We can do this.

– Chris