The crew of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner has received some encouraging news regarding their return to Earth. Testing of the spacecraft’s thrusters, which have kept it in orbit since early June, has now been completed. Boeing and NASA were awaiting the outcomes of these tests to begin arranging the Starliner’s return journey.
The testing took place at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico, where the focus was on the Reaction Control System (RCS) thrusters. An update indicated that teams would now analyze the data collected, aiming to understand thruster degradation and the reasons some thrusters were not operational during the flight.
The term “de-selected” refers to those thrusters that ceased to function. Prior to and during the launch, leaks were found in the helium tanks that control the thrusters, causing several delays. Officials mentioned that the Starliner has 70 hours’ worth of helium onboard, despite only needing seven for the mission. While they stated earlier this month that the spacecraft could come back immediately if necessary, they noted that they aren’t fully prepared for that to happen just yet.
In previous communications, NASA and Boeing suggested that a return flight might 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, and move forward with finalizing flight rationale in support of readiness reviews for Starliner’s nominal return to Earth with commander Butch Wilmore and pilot Suni Williams in the coming weeks.”