The crew of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner received encouraging news regarding its return to Earth. Recent ground testing of the spacecraft’s thrusters, which have kept it in space since early June, has been completed. Both Boeing and NASA were awaiting these test results to plan for the spacecraft’s journey back.
An update from last week confirmed that the ground testing of the Starliner’s Reaction Control System (RCS) thruster at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico has concluded, and teams are now focused on reviewing the data. The purpose of the tests was to analyze thruster degradation to understand why some thrusters malfunctioned during flight and to assess the implications of possibly reintroducing them into service.
The term “de-selected” refers to the thrusters that ceased functioning. Prior to and during the launch, helium tanks controlling the thrusters experienced leaks, which led to multiple delays. Officials noted that while the spacecraft has 70 hours’ worth of helium onboard, it only requires seven hours for its operation. Although they indicated earlier this month that Starliner could return to Earth immediately if necessary, they emphasized that they are not yet ready for it to come back.
During their last update, NASA and Boeing suggested that a return flight could happen at the end of the month. However, the timeline has since become less defined: “Boeing and NASA engineers will proceed with thruster disassembly and inspections, and will continue finalizing flight rationales in support of readiness reviews for Starliner’s planned return to Earth with commander Butch Wilmore and pilot Suni Williams in the coming weeks.”