The crew of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner received encouraging news regarding their return to Earth. Recent ground tests of the spacecraft’s thrusters, which have kept it in orbit since early June, have now been completed. Boeing and NASA were waiting for these tests to finalize plans for the vessel’s return journey.
An update shared late last week indicated that the testing of a Starliner Reaction Control System (RCS) thruster at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico has been finished, and teams are focused on reviewing the data. The aim of the tests was to investigate thruster degradation to better understand the causes behind the in-flight failures of some thrusters and the potential implications of reactivating them for the Crew Flight Test.
The term “de-selected” refers to thrusters that ceased operation. There were issues with the helium tanks that control the thrusters, which experienced leaks before and during the launch, resulting in several delays. At a recent press conference, officials noted that while the spacecraft has 70 hours’ worth of helium available, it only requires seven hours. Although they mentioned earlier this month that the craft could return immediately if necessary, it was clarified that they are not fully prepared for that yet.
In the latest update from NASA and Boeing, they projected that a return flight could happen by the end of this month. However, the timeline has become less specific: “Boeing and NASA engineers will proceed with thruster disassembly and inspections and will work on finalizing flight rationale to support readiness reviews for Starliner’s planned return to Earth with commander Butch Wilmore and pilot Suni Williams in the upcoming weeks.”