The Boeing CST-100 Starliner team has received encouraging news regarding the spacecraft’s return to Earth. Recently completed ground tests of the spacecraft’s thrusters, which have left it stranded in orbit since early June, mark a significant step forward. Boeing and NASA were awaiting the results of these tests to begin planning the vessel’s journey back.
An update released last week announced, “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 data analysis.” The primary goal of the tests was to examine the degradation of the thrusters to better understand why certain thrusters were rendered inoperative during flight and evaluate the potential impacts of reintegrating these thrusters for the Crew Flight Test.
The term “de-selected” signifies that some thrusters failed to operate properly. During the Starliner launch, issues arose due to leaks in the helium tanks that regulate the thrusters, causing multiple delays. At a press conference last month, officials stated that the spacecraft has 70 hours’ worth of helium on board, although it requires only seven hours for its operations. While they indicated earlier this month that the craft could return to Earth immediately if necessary, they clarified that they are not fully prepared for that contingency just yet.
In their latest update, NASA and Boeing suggested that a return flight could occur by the end of this month. However, the timeframe has since become less defined, stating, “Boeing and NASA engineers will move forward with thruster disassembly and inspections and work on finalizing 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.”