The crew of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner has received promising news regarding its return to Earth. Recent ground tests of the spacecraft’s thrusters, which have left it stranded in space since early June, have been successfully completed. Boeing and NASA were waiting for these tests to finish before starting to plan the spacecraft’s journey back home.
An update released last week confirmed the completion of testing for a Starliner Reaction Control System (RCS) thruster at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico, with teams now analyzing the data. The objective of the testing was to examine thruster degradation, which would help understand the reasons some thrusters were not operational during flight and any potential implications of reactivating them.
The term “de-selected” refers to the thrusters that ceased functioning. Before and during the Starliner’s launch, there were issues with the helium tanks controlling the thrusters, leading to several delays. Officials mentioned last month that the spacecraft retains 70 hours of helium, significantly more than the seven hours it needs. While they stated that the craft could come back to Earth immediately if necessary, they also indicated that they are not fully prepared for its return just yet.
In a previous update, NASA and Boeing suggested that a return flight could occur at the end of this month. However, the timeline has become less certain. Current plans involve Boeing and NASA engineers disassembling and inspecting the thrusters, while also completing final preparations and readiness reviews for the Starliner’s anticipated return to Earth with commander Butch Wilmore and pilot Suni Williams in the coming weeks.