The crew of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner is receiving promising news regarding their return to Earth. Recent tests of the spacecraft’s thrusters, which have kept it in orbit since early June, have successfully concluded. Boeing and NASA were awaiting the results of these tests to initiate planning for the spacecraft’s return journey.
According to an update released last week, the ground testing of a Starliner Reaction Control System (RCS) thruster at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico has been completed, and teams are now focusing on reviewing the data. The objective of the testing was to examine thruster degradation to understand why certain thrusters were de-selected during the flight and to assess the implications of reactivating them on the overall Crew Flight Test.
De-selected in this context refers to thrusters that ceased functioning. Prior to and during the Starliner launch, there were issues with helium tanks that control the thrusters leaking, which resulted in various delays. Officials indicated during a press conference last month that the spacecraft has 70 hours of helium onboard, although it only requires seven hours for its operation. They also mentioned that while the craft could return now if necessary, they are not yet fully prepared for that eventuality.
In the latest update, NASA and Boeing noted that a return flight could potentially happen at the end of this month. However, the timeline has become less specific: “Boeing and NASA engineers will continue with thruster disassembly and inspections and will finalize the flight rationale in anticipation of readiness reviews for Starliner’s routine return to Earth with commander Butch Wilmore and pilot Suni Williams in the upcoming weeks.”