The Boeing CST-100 Starliner crew has received encouraging news regarding their eventual return to Earth. Recently, the Earth-based testing of the spacecraft’s thrusters was completed, which have left the vehicle stranded in space since early June. Boeing and NASA were waiting to finalize the vessel’s return plan until these tests were concluded.
A recent update indicated that the ground testing of a Starliner Reaction Control System (RCS) thruster at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico is now finished, and teams are focusing on analyzing the data. The purpose of the tests was to examine thruster degradation and to understand why some thrusters malfunctioned during flight, as well as to assess the potential impacts of reactivating those thrusters on the overall Crew Flight Test.
Some thrusters were deemed “de-selected” because they ceased functioning. Prior to and during the Starliner’s launch, the helium tanks that regulate these thrusters experienced leaks, contributing to multiple delays. At a press conference last month, officials noted that the spacecraft holds 70 hours’ worth of helium, although only seven are necessary for operation. While they mentioned earlier this month that the craft could return at any moment, they also conveyed that they were not ready for its immediate return.
In their last update, NASA and Boeing suggested that a return flight might happen at the end of this month. However, the timeline is now less specific: “Boeing and NASA engineers will proceed with thruster disassembly and inspections, and move forward with 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.”