from Hacker News

Starliner's flight to the ISS was much more harrowing than originally thought

by xvector on 4/22/25, 11:25 PM with 1 comments

• by xvector on 4/22/25, 11:27 PM

  An Ars-exclusive interview shows that 4 thruster failures resulted in astronauts Butch and Sunni losing control of Starliner as it got close to docking.

  Not only did the astronauts have to switch to manual control, but the loss of control eliminated the possibility of aborting and safely returning to Earth.

  Quick thinking from Mission Control saved their lives - control was regained shortly before a fifth thruster was lost.

  This paints a much more harrowing picture than NASA or Boeing originally provided to the public.