The Boeing CST-100 Starliner crew has received promising news regarding their return home. Recently completed ground tests of the spacecraft’s thrusters, which have kept it in orbit since early June, allow Boeing and NASA to start planning for the vessel’s return journey.
An update released last week confirmed that the ground testing of a Starliner Reaction Control System (RCS) thruster at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico has concluded, with teams now focusing on data analysis. The primary goal of the tests was to observe any degradation in the thrusters, which would provide insights into why certain thrusters were deactivated during flight and assess the potential impact of reactivating them.
Officials indicated that “de-selected” refers to some thrusters that became non-operational. Prior to and during the Starliner’s launch, the helium tanks that control the thrusters were found to be leaking, resulting in several delays. At a press briefing last month, officials reported that the spacecraft has 70 hours of helium onboard, significantly more than the seven hours required. While they noted that the vehicle could technically return at any moment, they expressed that they were not fully prepared for that eventuality yet.
NASA and Boeing previously indicated that a return flight might take place at the end of this month. However, the timeline has become less specific, with the latest communication stating, “Boeing and NASA engineers will proceed with thruster disassembly and inspections and will advance towards finalizing the flight rationale in support of readiness reviews for Starliner’s planned return to Earth with Commander Butch Wilmore and Pilot Suni Williams in the coming weeks.”