Engineering teams from NASA and Boeing recently completed ground hot-fire testing of a Starliner reaction control system thruster at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico.
The test series involved firing the engine through similar in-flight conditions the spacecraft experienced during its approach to the International Space Station, as well as various stress-case firings for what is expected during Starliner’s eventual undocking and the deorbit burn that will position the spacecraft for a landing in the southwestern United States.
The teams are now analysing the data from these tests, and leadership plans to publicise the findings later this week.
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams arrived at the orbiting laboratory on June 6 after lifting off aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on June 5. Faults with the spacecraft have prevented their return to Earth.
The pair has been integrated with the Expedition 71 crew in the interim, performing scientific research and maintenance activities as needed.
The June mission was an end-to-end test of the Starliner system. Following the spacecraft’s eventual return to Earth, NASA will begin the process of certifying it for rotational missions to the International Space Station.
