It'd be reasonable to think Washington's space economy has a lot riding on Boeing's Starliner, the spacecraft that left two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station and headed back to Earth with an empty cabin Friday.

Astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunisa “Suni” Williams will have to wait, NASA leaders said, until February of next year to catch a ride back to Earth. And, much to Boeing’s chagrin, they’ll do it on a SpaceX spacecraft.

Eastern time on Friday, Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) and began the six-hour re-entry trip toward Earth. Late that evening, Calypso—Starliner’s capsule—deployed parachutes and successfully touched down in the desert of White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico,