One informed source said it was greater than a 50-50 chance that the crew would come back on Dragon. Another source said it was significantly more likely than not they would. To be clear, NASA has not made a final decision. This probably will not happen until at least next week. It is likely that Jim Free, NASA’s associate administrator, will make the call.
Asked if it was now more likely than not that Starliner’s crew would return on Dragon, NASA spokesperson Josh Finch told Ars on Thursday evening, " NASA is evaluating all options for the return of agency astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams from the International Space Station as safely as possible. No decisions have been made and the agency will continue to provide updates on its planning."
After repeated firings of the thruster it started behaving similar to the ones in orbit. Disassembling the thruster they found a teflon seal in the poppet valve that feeds the nitrogen tetroxide into the thruster had deformed and actually bulged out, disrupting the flow of oxidizer.
https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/07/nasa-nears-decision-on-what-to-do-with-boeings-troubled-starliner-spacecraft/
I wonder how predictable the thrust reduction is. I would have thought they could account for this in software, but maybe there’s too much uncertainty. Or perhaps ground tests showed the seal can fail in dangerous ways.
they didn’t even test the thrusters on the ground wtf
Why would you need to test things when you’re Boeing? You know what you’re doing!