The Boeing CST-100 Starliner crew has received promising news regarding preparations for their return to Earth. After completing ground tests on the spacecraft’s thrusters—responsible for its extended stay in space since early June—Boeing and NASA can now begin planning for the vessel’s journey home.
Recent updates confirmed that testing of a Starliner Reaction Control System (RCS) thruster at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico has wrapped up, and teams are now focusing on analyzing the data. The objective of the testing was to assess thruster degradation to understand why some thrusters were non-operational during flight and to determine any impacts of reactivating those thrusters for the upcoming Crew Flight Test.
The term “de-selected” refers to the thrusters that ceased functioning, attributed to helium tank leaks that occurred both before and during the Starliner’s launch. Officials mentioned last month that the spacecraft contains 70 hours’ worth of helium, despite only requiring seven hours. They indicated that while the craft could technically return to Earth now, it is not yet fully prepared for the journey.
NASA and Boeing’s latest communications suggested that a return flight could occur at the end of this month; however, the timeline is now more uncertain. The teams will continue with thruster disassembly and inspections while working on final preparations for the Starliner’s anticipated return to Earth, set to include commander Butch Wilmore and pilot Suni Williams in the coming weeks.