The crew of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner has received promising news regarding its return to Earth. Recent Earthbound testing of the spacecraft’s thrusters, which have left it in orbit since early June, has been completed. Boeing and NASA had been awaiting these tests to begin planning for the vessel’s homeward journey.
In an update released late last week, it was announced that ground testing of a Starliner Reaction Control System (RCS) thruster at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico has concluded, allowing teams to focus on data analysis. The purpose of the tests was to assess thruster performance deterioration to understand why some thrusters were disabled during flight and to evaluate the potential implications of reactivating them for the upcoming Crew Flight Test.
The term “de-selected” refers to thrusters that ceased functioning. Prior to and during the Starliner’s launch, helium tanks used to control the thrusters experienced leaks, resulting in several delays. During a press conference last month, officials indicated that the spacecraft possesses 70 hours of helium, despite only requiring seven. While they mentioned earlier this month that the craft could return immediately if necessary, they also expressed that they are not fully prepared for its return just yet.
In the last communication, NASA and Boeing suggested a possible return flight by 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.”