Marcia Dunn, Associated Press

The three Americans and one Russian who splashed down off Florida early Friday should have returned from the International Space Station months ago.

Live views showed parts of the spacecraft breaking away during the intense heat of reentry but it remained intact.

Starliner will spend at least eight days at the space station before aiming for a touchdown in the western U.S.

A pair of NASA test pilots blasted off aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule for the International Space Station, the first to fly the new spacecraft.

NOAA has alerted operators of power plants and spacecraft in orbit to take precautions.

A chilly, midday darkness fell across North America on Monday as a total solar eclipse raced across the continent, thrilling those lucky enough to behold the spectacle through clear skies.

The company said it lost contact with Starship as it neared its goal, a splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

Their capsule parachuted into the Gulf of Mexico near the Florida Panhandle early Tuesday.

Intuitive Machines, the Houston company that built and flew the spacecraft, said Monday that sunlight will likely stop shining on the solar panels Tuesday morning.

If successful, it would be the first U.S. moon landing in more than 50 years.

NASA is relying heavily on private companies for its moon missions, part of the reason for the new delays.

Astrobotic was aiming to be the first private company to successfully land on the moon, something only four countries have accomplished.

The planets are two to three times the size of Earth, but made mostly of gas. None of the planets are within the star’s so-called habitable zone.

SpaceX launched the Psyche spacecraft on Friday from Florida in a first-of-its-kind mission. Scientists believe the asteroid is the battered remnant of an early planet’s iron core.

The celestial showstopper will yield a partial eclipse across much of the Western Hemisphere, including in Anchorage.