Adam Thorn

The Crew-10 capsule, carrying four new astronauts, docked with the ISS on Saturday evening and will return to Earth with the original Starliner crew on Wednesday.

The charity, which uses planes to help those in isolated communities, said its new Cessna 208 Caravan would give flight simulations to schoolchildren in Redcliffe, Queensland, before continuing around the country.

Speaking at an industry event in Washington, Michelle Parker, a vice president for the aerospace giant, insisted space was “core” to the business.

Roosevelt “Ted” Mercer Jr heads the Virginia Spaceport Authority, which operates the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. The facility regularly hosts blast-offs from Rocket Lab and Northrop Grumman and is on the same site as NASA’s legendary Wallops Flight Facility.

The incident, later blamed on an “energetic event” in the vehicle’s rear, led to four airports in Florida – Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach and Orlando – halting flights for 80 minutes as fragments of Starship streaked through the sky like fireworks.

The 17-year-old, who police allege had dressed as a maintenance worker and climbed through a hole in the fence, was subdued by passengers before he could properly board flight JQ610 to Sydney.