The Boeing CST-100 Starliner crew has received promising news regarding their return to Earth. The completion of ground testing for the spacecraft’s thrusters, which have kept it in orbit since early June, has allowed Boeing and NASA to start planning the return trip.
According to a recent update, the ground tests were conducted on a Starliner Reaction Control System (RCS) thruster at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico. Teams are now focused on reviewing the data from these tests. The objective was to analyze thruster performance issues to understand why some thrusters were disabled during flight and to evaluate the implications of potentially reactivating them for the upcoming Crew Flight Test.
The term “de-selected” refers to certain thrusters that experienced failures. Prior to and during the Starliner launch, there were issues with helium tanks used to control the thrusters, leading to several delays. At a press conference last month, officials noted that the spacecraft contains 70 hours of helium, even though only seven are required for its operations. While they mentioned earlier this month that the Starliner could return to Earth immediately if necessary, they indicated that they are not fully prepared for that yet.
In their latest update, NASA and Boeing suggested that a return flight could occur by the end of this month. However, the timeline is now more uncertain: “Boeing and NASA engineers will proceed with thruster disassembly and inspections, and continue to finalize the flight rationale to support readiness reviews for Starliner’s scheduled return to Earth with commander Butch Wilmore and pilot Suni Williams in the upcoming weeks.”