I'm not certain I counted right, but I believe it was eight failed thrusters in its first uncrewed test in 2020, and later four failed thrusters in the second one, in 2022. (Combining the failure count of the larger orbital maneuvering thrusters with that of the smaller reaction-control systems).<p>- <i>"The NASA source said eight or more thrusters on the service module failed at one point and that one thruster never fired at all."</i><p><a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/01/nasa-and-boeing-are-closely-looking-at-starliners-thruster-performance/" rel="nofollow">https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/01/nasa-and-boeing-are-...</a><p>- <i>" Two of the 20 main thrusters on the spacecraft's service module, used for orbital maneuvering, failed shortly after Starliner separated from its Atlas V rocket. They were not recovered during the flight. Two smaller reaction control system thrusters also failed during the approach to the space station, but they were recovered."</i><p><a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/05/nasas-verdict-on-starliner-a-great-vehicle-for-crew-transportation/" rel="nofollow">https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/05/nasas-verdict-on-sta...</a>
> As a result, NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore had to assume manual control of the crew capsule for a while before it went back into its autonomous mode<p>Is there a video of this? Bet it was nail biting.<p>Kudos they pulled it off given all that went wrong.
McDonnell Douglas knows they can continue to drain Boeing of money because the US govt will step in to bail Boeing out when things go really bad.<p>Reminds me of the cynical calculus around power companies here in California.
These are the same thrusters that are on Orion [1][2]. (They were delivered to Boeing 6 years ago.)<p>[1] <a href="https://www.spacefoundation.org/2018/03/15/aerojet-rocketdyne-ships-starliner-re-entry-thrusters/" rel="nofollow">https://www.spacefoundation.org/2018/03/15/aerojet-rocketdyn...</a><p>[2] <a href="https://www.compositesworld.com/news/aerojet-rocketdyne-to-provide-propulsion-for-orion-spacecraft-fleet-#:~:text=Reaction%20Control,assemblies.%20At" rel="nofollow">https://www.compositesworld.com/news/aerojet-rocketdyne-to-p...</a>
Sounds like they worked through it, so docking was successful. I imagine that much like SpaceX in a similar situation, there are lessons learned that will be applied to the next iteration.
Hard to believe that NASA sent people to the moon 60 years ago, when they can't even get basic reaction thrusters working after over 10 years of developing and building the Starliner...