The Boeing CST-100 Starliner crew has received promising news regarding their return to Earth. Recent ground tests of the spacecraft’s thrusters, which have kept it in orbit since early June, have been completed. Boeing and NASA were awaiting the results of these tests to start planning for the spacecraft’s homecoming.
An announcement from late last week indicated that ground testing of a Starliner Reaction Control System (RCS) thruster at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico has concluded, and teams are now focused on reviewing the data. The aim of the testing was to understand the degradation of the thrusters, which led to some being deactivated during flight and to assess any implications of returning them to operational status.
The term “de-selected” refers to some thrusters that became inactive. Issues arose with helium tanks that control the thrusters, which were leaking before and during the launch of Starliner, causing several delays. Officials noted last month that the spacecraft has 70 hours of helium available, despite only needing seven for operations. They previously mentioned that while the craft could theoretically return now, they are not fully prepared for its arrival.
In the latest update, NASA and Boeing indicated that a return flight could occur at the end of this month. However, that timeline has become 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.”