The crew of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner received positive news regarding their return to Earth. Ground tests for the spacecraft’s thrusters, which have been stranded in space since early June, have recently concluded. Boeing and NASA were waiting for these tests to plan the return trip for the vehicle.
An update from 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 focusing on reviewing the data.” The tests aimed to examine thruster performance issues to better understand why some thrusters were rendered inoperative during flight and the potential impacts of reactivating those thrusters on the Crew Flight Test.
The term “de-selected” refers to thrusters that ceased functioning. Issues arose from helium tanks controlling the thrusters, which experienced leaks both before and during launch, resulting in multiple delays. During a press conference last month, officials mentioned that the spacecraft has 70 hours of helium on board, despite only needing seven. While they indicated earlier this month that the Starliner could return to Earth immediately if necessary, they also stated that they were not fully prepared for that eventuality.
In the latest update, NASA and Boeing suggested that a return flight could occur by the end of this month, although this timeline is now less specific: “Boeing and NASA engineers will proceed with thruster disassembly and inspections and will continue finalizing the flight rationale to support readiness reviews for Starliner’s planned return to Earth with commander Butch Wilmore and pilot Suni Williams in the coming weeks.”