The crew of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner received promising news regarding its return to Earth. Testing of the spacecraft’s thrusters, which have left it stranded in space since early June, has recently wrapped up. Boeing and NASA were awaiting the completion of these tests before beginning preparations for the spacecraft’s journey home.
An update from last week stated, “Ground testing of a Starliner Reaction Control System (RCS) thruster at White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico is complete, and teams are now focusing on data reviews.” The goal of the test was to understand thruster degradation, which would help clarify why some thrusters were not operational during the flight and evaluate the implications of reactivating those thrusters on the overall Crew Flight Test.
The term “de-selected” refers to thrusters that ceased functioning. Issues arose with the helium tanks that control the thrusters, which were leaking prior to and during the Starliner’s launch, resulting in multiple postponements. Officials disclosed last month that the spacecraft contains 70 hours of helium, even though it only requires seven. They indicated earlier this month that the spacecraft could return to Earth if necessary, but stated they are not yet fully prepared for that.
In the latest briefing, NASA and Boeing mentioned that a return flight could occur at the end of this month. However, the timeline has since become less specific: “Boeing and NASA engineers will proceed with thruster disassembly and inspections, moving forward with finalizing 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.”