The Boeing CST-100 Starliner crew has received encouraging news regarding their return to Earth, as ground testing of the spacecraft’s thrusters has been completed. The thrusters had kept Starliner in space since early June, and both Boeing and NASA were awaiting these tests before planning the spacecraft’s homebound journey.
In an update released last week, it was announced that the ground testing of a Starliner Reaction Control System (RCS) thruster at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico is finished. The focus is now shifting to analyzing the data collected during the tests. The primary aim of the testing was to understand thruster degradation and identify the reasons why some thrusters were deselected during flight, as well as assess the potential impact of reactivating them.
“Deselected” in this context refers to certain thrusters that ceased to function. Prior to and during the launch of Starliner, helium tanks responsible for controlling the thrusters were found to have leaks, resulting in a series of delays. Officials indicated last month that the spacecraft has 70 hours of helium stored, while only needing seven for its operations. Although they mentioned earlier this month that Starliner could return to Earth if necessary, they also stated that they are not quite ready for that to happen yet.
In their most recent update, NASA and Boeing hinted at the possibility of a return flight by the end of this month. However, the timeline has since 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,” the statement concluded.