The crew of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner has received promising news regarding their return to Earth. Recent ground tests on the spacecraft’s thrusters, which have left it in a holding pattern since early June, have been successfully completed. Boeing and NASA were awaiting these results to start planning the spacecraft’s homecoming.
A statement released last week indicated, “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 analyzing the data.” The goal of the testing was to evaluate thruster performance and understand issues that led to the deactivation of some thrusters during the flight, as well as the potential effects of reactivating them on the overall mission.
Some thrusters were deactivated due to leaks in helium tanks that control their operation, which caused several delays prior to and during the Starliner launch. Officials noted that although the spacecraft has 70 hours’ worth of helium onboard—far more than the seven hours required—they are not fully ready for a return just yet.
NASA and Boeing had previously mentioned that a return flight might occur at the end of this month; however, the timeline is now less certain. The latest update reflects that “Boeing and NASA engineers will proceed with thruster disassembly and inspections and continue refining the flight rationale to prepare for readiness reviews for Starliner’s planned return to Earth with commander Butch Wilmore and pilot Suni Williams in the upcoming weeks.”