The Boeing CST-100 Starliner crew recently received encouraging news regarding their return to Earth. Testing of the spacecraft’s thrusters, which have kept it in orbit since early June, has now been completed. Boeing and NASA had postponed planning the vessel’s return trip until these tests were finalized.
An update shared late last week noted, “Ground testing of a Starliner Reaction Control System (RCS) thruster at White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico is complete, and teams are now turning their attention to data reviews.” The purpose of the tests was to assess thruster degradation to understand why some thrusters were deactivated during the flight and to evaluate the implications of reintegrating these thrusters for the return flight.
The term “de-selected” refers to certain thrusters that malfunctioned. Issues arose with the helium tanks used to control the thrusters, which were found to be leaking before and during the Starliner’s launch, causing multiple delays. Officials stated last month that the spacecraft is equipped with 70 hours of helium, although it only needs seven hours for its operations. While they mentioned earlier this month that the spacecraft could return if necessary, they also indicated that it is not yet fully prepared for that.
In the latest update, NASA and Boeing hinted that a return flight might be possible by the end of this month. However, the timeline has since become less specific: “Boeing and NASA engineers will proceed with thruster disassembly and inspections and advance towards finalizing flight rationale in support of readiness reviews for Starliner’s nominal return to Earth with commander Butch Wilmore and pilot Suni Williams in the coming weeks.”