The crew of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner is receiving promising news regarding its return journey to Earth. Recent ground tests on the spacecraft’s thrusters, which have kept it in space since early June, have been successfully completed. Boeing and NASA had held off on planning the vessel’s return until these tests were finalized.
An update from last week confirmed that ground testing of a Starliner Reaction Control System (RCS) thruster at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico concluded successfully. “Teams are now turning their attention to data reviews,” the statement noted. The purpose of these tests was to investigate thruster degradation and to understand the reasons some thrusters were deactivated during flight, as well as the potential impact of reactivating them on the Crew Flight Test.
The term “de-selected” refers to thrusters that malfunctioned. Prior to and during the Starliner launch, the helium tanks that control the thrusters experienced leaks, resulting in several delays. Officials mentioned at a press conference last month that the spacecraft has 70 hours’ worth of helium onboard, despite needing only seven for its operations. Although they indicated earlier this month that the craft could return immediately if necessary, they also expressed that they are not fully prepared for that scenario yet.
Recently, NASA and Boeing suggested that a return flight could happen by the end of this month, but the timeline has become less defined. “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.”