The crew of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner has received encouraging news regarding its return to Earth. Recent tests of the spacecraft’s thrusters, which have kept it in orbit since early June, have now been completed. Boeing and NASA had been waiting for these tests to finalize plans for the spacecraft’s homeward journey.
“The 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 reviewing the data,” an update from last week stated. “The goal of the test was to analyze thruster degradation to better understand why some thrusters were disabled during flight and assess the potential impacts of bringing those thrusters back into operation for the remainder of the Crew Flight Test.”
The term “de-selected” refers to the thrusters that ceased functioning. Prior to and during the Starliner’s launch, the helium tanks that regulate the thrusters experienced leaks, resulting in multiple delays. At a press conference last month, officials noted that the spacecraft has 70 hours’ worth of helium onboard, even though it only requires seven hours. While they mentioned earlier this month that the craft could return immediately if necessary, they indicated they are not yet fully prepared for that scenario.
In their latest update, NASA and Boeing indicated that a return flight could potentially take place by the end of this month. The timeline now appears less certain: “Boeing and NASA engineers will proceed with the disassembly and inspection of the thrusters and work towards 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.”