The Boeing CST-100 Starliner crew has received positive news regarding their journey back to Earth. Recent ground tests of the spacecraft’s thrusters, which have kept it in orbit since early June, have been successfully completed. Boeing and NASA awaited these tests to start planning the spacecraft’s return.
An update announced that the ground testing of a Starliner Reaction Control System (RCS) thruster at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico is now done, with teams focusing on data analysis. The purpose of these tests was to examine thruster performance degradation to understand the reasons behind the in-flight de-selection of certain thrusters and evaluate the implications of potentially bringing those thrusters back into service.
The term “de-selected” refers to some thrusters failing to operate properly. Helium tanks controlling the thrusters were found to be leaking before and during the launch, which caused several delays. Officials indicated last month that while the spacecraft has 70 hours of helium onboard, it only requires seven hours for operations. Although they mentioned earlier this month that the Starliner could return home immediately if necessary, they stated that they were not fully prepared for that scenario yet.
In their latest update, NASA and Boeing projected that a return flight could happen by the end of October. However, the timeline is now less specific: “Boeing and NASA engineers will continue with the disassembly and inspection of the thrusters, moving forward with finalizing the flight rationale in preparation for readiness reviews for Starliner’s planned return to Earth with commander Butch Wilmore and pilot Suni Williams in the coming weeks.”