The crew of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner has received encouraging news regarding its return to Earth. The recent completion of ground testing on the spacecraft’s thrusters, which have left it stranded in space since early June, has paved the way for Boeing and NASA to initiate planning for its journey back home.
An update provided last week revealed that the ground testing of a Starliner Reaction Control System (RCS) thruster at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico has concluded, and teams are now focusing on analyzing the data. The primary goal of the tests was to assess any degradation in the thrusters to better understand why some of them ceased functioning during the flight and to evaluate the implications of potentially returning those thrusters to service for the remainder of the Crew Flight Test.
The term “de-selected” refers to some thrusters that malfunctioned. Prior to and during the Starliner’s launch, the helium tanks controlling the thrusters faced leakage issues, contributing to several delays. During a press briefing last month, officials indicated that the spacecraft possesses 70 hours of helium on board, although only seven are necessary for its operations. Despite stating that the craft could technically return at any moment, they emphasized that it is not yet fully prepared for re-entry.
In the most recent update, NASA and Boeing mentioned that a return flight could be feasible by the end of this month. However, the timeline has become less certain: “Boeing and NASA engineers will continue with thruster disassembly and inspections and proceed with 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 upcoming weeks.”