Boeing engineers tested the thrusters and managed to replicate the issue. They found that there issue was caused by a bulging of a Teflon valve.
However they don’t understand the root cause of why the Teflon is bulging.
So Boeing said it’s safe for the astronauts to return on Starliner but they also said that they fixed the thruster issues they had on the previous flight.
Not all NASA is confident that the Starliner is safe enough.
IIRC, the whole thing is a bit of misconception in the popular imagination. It’ll reenter just fine if it manages the right maneuvers. The risk is hitting the ISS on the way out.
This is not what I’ve read.
Boeing engineers tested the thrusters and managed to replicate the issue. They found that there issue was caused by a bulging of a Teflon valve.
However they don’t understand the root cause of why the Teflon is bulging.
So Boeing said it’s safe for the astronauts to return on Starliner but they also said that they fixed the thruster issues they had on the previous flight.
Not all NASA is confident that the Starliner is safe enough.
IIRC, the whole thing is a bit of misconception in the popular imagination. It’ll reenter just fine if it manages the right maneuvers. The risk is hitting the ISS on the way out.
Was this update. About five minutes of update starting at this timestamp.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLNeIx7AwVE&t=2m12s