At a White Sands test facility, Boeing’s Starliner team reproduced thrust degradation by running thrusters through longer and more frequent pulses intended to recreate higher thermal conditions experienced in flight. That was concerning, but it was not the only test result: a separate test of Starliner while docked at the International Space Station (ISS) produced preliminary measurements at preflight thrust and chamber-pressure levels. The tests used different settings and firing profiles, so their results do not directly contradict each other.
What happened during the White Sands test?
Starliner’s reaction-control-system (RCS) thrusters were part of the concern after some jets did not perform as expected during the spacecraft’s June 2024 crewed test flight. Boeing’s team used ground testing at White Sands to investigate why some thrusters had been deselected in flight and whether returning them to service could affect the rest of the mission.
The team initially ran simulated flight profiles, then added longer and more frequent pulses to better approximate the higher thermal conditions the thrusters had experienced in flight. Boeing said the more aggressive profiles reproduced thrust degradation. In other words, the test team observed a loss of thrust under the changed firing conditions; the finding was not simply that a jet failed to fire.
Boeing reported that testing included more than 1,000 pulses in a simulated launch-to-docking sequence and 500 pulses across five undock-to-deorbit profiles. Those are counts of test pulses, not a claim that each thruster completed that many pulses or that the profiles duplicated every aspect of flight.
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Why did a separate Starliner test show different results?
On July 27, 2024, NASA tested Starliner’s RCS jets while the spacecraft was docked at the ISS. NASA said 27 of the vehicle’s 28 jets were fired briefly, one at a time. Preliminary results put the tested thrusters at preflight thrust and chamber-pressure levels. Engineers also reviewed helium leak rates.
| Test | Setting and purpose | Reported result |
|---|---|---|
| White Sands ground test | Boeing used ground equipment to investigate in-flight thruster deselections and assess whether returning jets to service could affect the Crew Flight Test. Longer and more frequent pulses were added to simulate higher thermal conditions. | Boeing reported that the team reproduced thrust degradation under the more aggressive pulse profiles. |
| July 27 docked test | Starliner was docked at the ISS; NASA said 27 of 28 RCS jets were fired briefly, one at a time, to evaluate jet performance. Engineers separately reviewed helium leak rates. | NASA’s preliminary results put the tested jets at preflight thrust and chamber-pressure levels. |
The White Sands test used ground equipment and deliberately added more demanding pulse profiles to reproduce degradation. The ISS test briefly fired jets in a different configuration. A normal preliminary measurement in the latter test therefore did not erase the ground-test finding, and the ground-test finding does not mean NASA reported degradation during the docked hot-fire.
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How the thruster findings fit into the flight timeline
- June 5, 2024: Starliner launched on its first crewed test flight to the ISS. During approach, some thrusters did not perform as expected, and helium leaks were observed.
- July 2024: Boeing’s White Sands testing reproduced thrust degradation after the team introduced longer and more frequent pulses intended to recreate higher thermal conditions. NASA also conducted the separate docked hot-fire on July 27.
- August 24, 2024: NASA announced that Starliner would return without its crew. NASA said uncertainty and a lack of expert concurrence meant the agency could not meet its human-spaceflight safety and performance requirements for a crewed return.
- September 2024: Starliner returned to Earth uncrewed. The Crew Flight Test mission lasted 93 days, compared with its planned duration of eight to 14 days, according to NASA’s later account.
- March 2025: Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams returned to Earth on SpaceX Crew-9.
- February 19, 2026: NASA released the findings of an independent Program Investigation Team, whose report had been completed in November 2025.
Why did NASA return Starliner without the astronauts?
NASA’s August 2024 decision was about whether it had enough confidence to fly the astronauts home on Starliner, not whether a single test had proved the spacecraft could never operate. The agency said unresolved uncertainty and insufficient expert concurrence did not meet its safety and performance requirements for a crewed return. NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager Steve Stich described the decision as needing “a higher level of certainty to perform a crewed return.”
That distinction matters: NASA chose the uncrewed return because it could not accept the remaining uncertainty for the crewed flight. The decision does not, by itself, establish a final technical explanation for every thruster anomaly or helium leak.
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What did NASA’s later investigation conclude?
In its February 19, 2026 release, NASA formally designated the Crew Flight Test a Type A mishap. NASA said the spacecraft lost maneuverability as the crew approached the station and that the potential consequences were significant. The investigation summarized interacting hardware failures, qualification gaps, leadership missteps, and cultural breakdowns as contributors.
NASA also said technical root-cause work was continuing. The investigation’s broad findings should not be mistaken for a final, detailed engineering mechanism explaining exactly how the thruster degradation occurred, nor do they establish a complete corrective design for future flights.
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Does this mean Starliner is ready for future crewed flights?
The findings described here do not establish that Starliner has been certified for future crewed missions or that a specific corrective design is complete. NASA’s February 2026 release says technical root-cause work continues. A future readiness or certification decision would need to account for that ongoing work and the agency’s safety requirements; the test results alone do not settle it.
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