The Boeing CST-100 Starliner crew has received encouraging news regarding their return to Earth. Recently, ground testing of the spacecraft’s thrusters, which have left it in orbit since early June, has been completed. Boeing and NASA were waiting for these tests to wrap up before starting preparations for the spacecraft’s homecoming.
An update released last week confirmed, “Ground testing of a Starliner Reaction Control System (RCS) thruster at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico is complete, and teams are now focusing on reviewing the data.” The objective of the tests was to examine thruster degradation, which will help teams understand why some thrusters were disabled during the flight and assess the potential impacts of reactivating them for the remainder of the Crew Flight Test.
The term “de-selected” refers to the thrusters that ceased functioning. Previously, it was reported that the helium tanks controlling the thrusters experienced leaks before and during the Starliner launch, resulting in a series of delays. Officials mentioned at a recent press conference that the spacecraft is equipped with 70 hours of helium, although it only requires seven. While earlier statements indicated that the craft could return to Earth if necessary, officials clarified that they still need more time before proceeding.
In their most recent updates, NASA and Boeing suggested that a return flight could happen by the end of this month. However, the timeline is now less certain: “Boeing and NASA engineers will continue with the disassembly and inspection of the thrusters and work towards finalizing flight rationale in preparation for readiness reviews for Starliner’s anticipated return to Earth, with commander Butch Wilmore and pilot Suni Williams in the coming weeks.”