The crew of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner has received positive news regarding its eventual return to Earth. Recently, ground testing of the spacecraft’s thrusters was completed, allowing Boeing and NASA to start planning the ship’s journey home after it has been in space since early June.
An update released 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 turning their attention to data reviews.” This testing aimed to understand the degradation of some thrusters that were deactivated during flight, as well as the potential effects of reintegrating those thrusters into service for the Crew Flight Test.
The term “de-selected” refers to thrusters that ceased functioning. Issues were encountered due to leaking helium tanks that control the thrusters, causing several launch delays. At a press conference last month, officials noted that the Starliner has enough helium for 70 hours of operation, even though only seven hours are required. While they indicated earlier this month that the spacecraft could return home immediately if necessary, they emphasized that they are not fully prepared for its return just yet.
In the most recent update, NASA and Boeing mentioned that a return flight could occur 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.”