The crew of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner has received encouraging news regarding their return to Earth. Testing of the spacecraft’s thrusters, which have left it stranded in space since early June, has been completed. Boeing and NASA had awaited these tests to initiate plans for the vessel’s journey back home.
An update provided last week indicated that ground testing of a Starliner Reaction Control System (RCS) thruster at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico has concluded, with teams now focusing on reviewing the data. The purpose of the tests was to examine thruster degradation, aiming to understand why certain thrusters failed during the flight and to assess the potential impact of reinstating them on the overall Crew Flight Test.
Officials noted that “de-selected” refers to thrusters that stopped functioning. Issues arose when the helium tanks that control the thrusters began leaking both before and during the Starliner’s launch, which caused several delays. During a press conference last month, officials reported that the spacecraft is equipped with 70 hours’ worth of helium, despite only requiring seven for its operations. While officials mentioned earlier this month that the Starliner could return to Earth immediately if necessary, they stated that preparations for its return are still ongoing.
NASA and Boeing previously indicated that a return flight could occur at the end of this month, but the timeline has since become less precise. As per the latest update, “Boeing and NASA engineers will proceed with thruster disassembly and inspections and continue finalizing flight preparations to support readiness reviews for Starliner’s expected return to Earth, with commander Butch Wilmore and pilot Suni Williams in the coming weeks.”