The Boeing CST-100 Starliner crew recently received encouraging news regarding their return to Earth. Ground testing of the spacecraft’s thrusters, which have rendered the vessel stationary in space since early June, has been successfully completed. Boeing and NASA were awaiting these results to initiate plans for Starliner’s homecoming.
An update last week stated, “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 focused on data analysis.” The primary goal of the tests was to assess thruster degradation to understand the reasons behind some thrusters being deactivated during flight and to evaluate the implications of potentially reactivating them.
“De-selected” refers to thrusters that ceased functioning. Prior to and during launch, helium tanks controlling the thrusters experienced leaks, which caused several delays. At a press conference last month, officials noted that the spacecraft possesses 70 hours of helium onboard, far exceeding the seven hours needed. Although they indicated earlier this month that the craft could technically return to Earth immediately, they clarified that they were not fully prepared for this.
In their latest update, NASA and Boeing suggested that the return flight could occur by 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 preparation for readiness reviews related to Starliner’s planned return to Earth with commander Butch Wilmore and pilot Suni Williams in the coming weeks.”