The crew of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner has received promising news regarding its potential return to Earth. Earthbound testing of the spacecraft’s thrusters, which have left it stranded in space since early June, has recently concluded. Boeing and NASA were waiting for these tests to be completed before starting to plan the spacecraft’s journey back home.
An update provided last week stated, “Ground testing of a Starliner Reaction Control System (RCS) thruster at White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico is complete, and teams are now focusing on data reviews.” The main goal of the test was to assess thruster degradation, helping teams understand why some thrusters were deactivated during flight and determining the possible impacts of reintroducing those thrusters into service for the Crew Flight Test.
The term “de-selected” refers to certain thrusters that ceased functioning. Helium tanks, which control the thrusters, were found to be leaking both before and during the launch of the Starliner, resulting in several delays. Officials noted that the spacecraft has 70 hours’ worth of helium onboard, far more than the seven hours it requires. While they indicated earlier this month that the craft could return immediately if necessary, they also mentioned that they were not quite prepared for that eventuality.
In the latest update, NASA and Boeing suggested that a return flight could be scheduled for the end of this month, although the timeframe has since become less defined. “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.”