The Boeing CST-100 Starliner crew has received encouraging news regarding their return to Earth. Testing of the spacecraft’s thrusters, which has kept it in space since early June, has recently concluded. Boeing and NASA were waiting for these tests to finish before planning the spacecraft’s return journey.
A recent update revealed that ground testing of a Starliner Reaction Control System (RCS) thruster at White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico has been completed, and teams are currently reviewing the data. The tests aimed to assess thruster functionality and understand why certain thrusters were rendered inoperative during flight, as well as to evaluate the potential effects of reactivating those thrusters on the overall Crew Flight Test.
“De-selected” refers to thrusters that stopped functioning, which occurred due to helium tanks leaking prior to and during the Starliner’s launch—resulting in several delays. Last month, officials indicated that the spacecraft has 70 hours of helium onboard, despite only requiring seven for its operation. While they previously mentioned that the Starliner could return to Earth immediately if necessary, they stated that they are not fully prepared for that to happen.
In their latest update, NASA and Boeing suggested a possible return flight toward the end of this month. However, the timing has become less specific: “Boeing and NASA engineers will continue with the disassembly and inspection of the thrusters and work on finalizing the flight rationale to support readiness reviews for Starliner’s scheduled return to Earth with commander Butch Wilmore and pilot Suni Williams in the upcoming weeks.”