Boeing and NASA engineers have spent much of the past month conducting ground tests on a Starliner reaction control system (RCS) booster to get a better idea of what went wrong during Starliner's active flight in early June, and finally finished last week. In their latest update, The teams were able to replicate the thrust degradation that Starliner experienced and are now reviewing all the data. But the date of the return of astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams is still uncertain: NASA and Boeing have only said that they will make the trip “in the coming weeks.”
In testing at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico, teams simulated the conditions of Starliner’s recent flight, putting the control system booster “through one of the most stressful launch-to-docking firing sequences with more than 1,000 pulses to simulate CFT[Crew Flight Test]conditions,” according to Boeing. They also tested undocking and deorbit burn scenarios, which Starliner will experience on its way home. After collecting terabytes of data from those tests, the teams conducted additional, more aggressive testing to “see if we could more accurately simulate the higher thermal conditions the boosters experienced in flight,” said Dan Niedermaier, Boeing engineer for booster test.
Engineers are in the process of “disassembling and inspecting engines,” NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager Steve Stich said Thursday. After their analysis, POT NASA and Boeing said they will release more information at a conference in the coming days. The agency will conduct a flight test readiness review to determine whether Starliner is fit to bring astronauts back.