The Boeing CST-100 Starliner crew has received positive news regarding their return to Earth. Earth-based testing on the spacecraft’s thrusters, which have kept it in space since early June, has recently concluded. Boeing and NASA had been awaiting these results to commence planning for the spacecraft’s return journey.
An update last week confirmed, “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 turning their attention to data reviews.” The objective of the tests was to assess thruster performance degradation to better understand why some thrusters were deactivated during flight and the potential impact of reactivating them for the Crew Flight Test.
The term “de-selected” indicates that some thrusters had failed. There were issues with leaks in the helium tanks that control the thrusters prior to and during the Starliner launch, resulting in multiple delays. During a press conference last month, officials mentioned that the spacecraft has 70 hours’ worth of helium onboard, even though only seven are needed. While they stated earlier this month that the spacecraft could return now if necessary, they emphasized that they are not fully prepared for that just yet.
In the latest update, NASA and Boeing indicated that a return flight might occur 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 will continue to finalize 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.”