The Boeing CST-100 Starliner has received promising news regarding its return to Earth. Testing of the spacecraft’s thrusters, which has prevented its descent since early June, has been successfully completed. Boeing and NASA were awaiting the completion of these tests before planning the spacecraft’s homecoming.
According to a recent update, “Ground testing of a Starliner Reaction Control System (RCS) thruster at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico is complete, and teams are now focusing on data reviews.” The purpose of the tests was to assess thruster degradation to gain insights into the reasons some thrusters were not operational during flight, and to understand the implications of potentially reactivating them for the Crew Flight Test.
The term “de-selected” refers to some thrusters that ceased functioning. Issues with the helium tanks, which are essential for thruster operation, caused leaks both before and during the Starliner’s launch, resulting in several delays. Last month, officials confirmed that while the spacecraft holds 70 hours’ worth of helium, it only requires seven hours. They noted that although the craft could technically return to Earth at any time, they are not yet ready for it to do so.
The most recent update from NASA and Boeing suggested a possible return flight at the end of this month. However, the 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.”