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Yes: Boeing and NASA launched astronauts aboard Starliner on June 5, 2024, despite knowing about a small helium leak. It was in the spacecraft’s propulsion system, not the crew cabin, and NASA and Boeing judged it acceptable for launch based on the leak rate and the system’s expected margin. After launch, additional helium leaks and thruster failures changed the risk picture. NASA ultimately sent Starliner home without its crew.
What leaked—and what did not
The leak was in the helium system in Starliner’s service module, associated with a flange on a reaction-control-system (RCS) thruster. It was not an oxygen leak or a leak of cabin air. The service module contains propulsion hardware used to maneuver the spacecraft, including during docking and return operations. NASA’s May 2024 briefing described the prelaunch issue as a small helium leak.
Helium is a pressurant, not the spacecraft’s main fuel: it helps push propellant through the system toward the thrusters. Losing helium could therefore matter if pressure fell far enough to impair propulsion during a maneuver. How much reserve remained, and how quickly helium might continue to escape, were central to the assessment.
Why NASA and Boeing launched anyway
NASA and Boeing analyzed the observed leak and projected its effect on propulsion-system operations. They concluded that, under the conditions they understood before launch, the leak was small enough for Starliner to retain adequate margin. Teams planned to monitor the system and had operational contingencies available. They also weighed the complications of attempting a repair at the pad, which would have meant additional work and testing.
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That was a risk judgment, not a finding that the spacecraft had no defect. “Acceptable for launch under the assessed conditions” is more accurate than saying the leak was “totally fine.” The decision concerned whether the known leak left sufficient capability for the planned mission; it did not guarantee that the system would behave as expected through every later phase.
The launch came before teams knew the pattern that would develop in orbit. A leak that appears manageable can become more consequential if it grows, if other leaks occur, or if propulsion problems reduce the system’s remaining options. The Associated Press reported at the time on the choice not to repair the initial leak.
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From launch scrub to an uncrewed return
- May 6, 2024: The first crewed launch attempt was scrubbed over a valve issue on the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, not Starliner’s helium leak.
- May 24, 2024: NASA, Boeing and ULA discussed the small leak and the propulsion assessment publicly.
- June 5, 2024: NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams launched from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, aboard Starliner on an Atlas V. The planned stay at the International Space Station was about a week.
- June 6, 2024: During the approach to the station, Starliner encountered helium-leak and reaction-control-thruster problems.
- August 24, 2024: NASA announced that Starliner would return without Wilmore and Williams.
- September 2024: Starliner returned autonomously and landed at White Sands, New Mexico.
- March 2025: Wilmore and Williams returned to Earth aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon.
ULA’s Commercial Crew mission page records the launch, while NASA’s decision announcement explains the change to an uncrewed return.
What went wrong in orbit
The initial leak was not the whole story. According to NASA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG), helium leaks persisted and changed during the flight, while five service-module thrusters failed. The OIG attributed the thruster failures to overheating associated with the thrusters’ packaging and limited ability to shed heat.
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The failures temporarily left Starliner without six degrees of freedom in automated control. Commander Wilmore manually controlled the spacecraft while teams worked to recover thruster function; four of the five failed thrusters were recovered. A separate crew-module thruster later failed during undocking, leaving Starliner reliant on a single thruster for part of the return sequence. NASA OIG reported thruster failures on every Starliner flight test: 10 during OFT-1, three during OFT-2 and five during the crewed flight test.
The OIG also noted parachute-attachment anomalies during the crewed flight test, although the parachutes met their specified performance requirements. These problems formed a wider propulsion and vehicle-performance picture than the single prelaunch leak. NASA and Boeing could not fully reproduce the relevant space environment and thruster failures in ground testing, limiting how completely they could resolve uncertainties before deciding whether astronauts should ride the spacecraft home.
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Why NASA chose Crew Dragon for the astronauts
NASA did not say Starliner would certainly fail on the way back. It said the combination of uncertainty, further testing needs and a lack of expert agreement did not meet the agency’s safety and performance requirements for a crewed return. Launching with an assessed anomaly and authorizing a return after additional failures are different decisions: the latter had to account for the system as it was then behaving, not just the prelaunch leak rate.
Starliner was designed to operate autonomously, so it could return without its crew. NASA reassigned Wilmore and Williams to SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission. The uncrewed landing showed that the vehicle completed that return; it does not establish that a crewed return would have met NASA’s safety threshold under the same circumstances.
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What investigators say about the leak—and what remains open
NASA OIG said NASA and Boeing testing identified O-ring degradation after extended exposure to propellant as the likely cause of the helium leaks. That is not the same as a fully settled root cause: the OIG reported that portions of the technical investigation and root-cause work remained incomplete as of March 2026. The report also found that helium-system issues persisted across other Starliner flight tests.
The OIG’s June 2026 report said key helium-leak and propulsion analyses remained unresolved as of March 2026. It described the next planned mission, Starliner-1, as an uncrewed cargo flight, with no launch date scheduled in the status it cited. NASA remained uncertain about when Starliner would obtain human-rating certification. That does not establish that Starliner was canceled—or that it was ready to carry astronauts again. The NASA OIG report provides the detailed findings and status.
What the episode says about the original decision
The decision is best understood as a judgment made with incomplete information, not as proof that a known leak was harmless or that launch was necessarily irrational. The initial leak was small, and NASA and Boeing believed the system had enough margin and contingencies for launch. But the leak involved propulsion needed for spacecraft control and return; in orbit, further leaks and thruster failures made the crewed-return assessment substantially more difficult.
NASA OIG later concluded that the crewed flight-test anomalies could have jeopardized the Starliner crew, the ISS crew and other spacecraft in low Earth orbit. Its findings also point to shortcomings in certification and review that did not identify or resolve some risks early enough. The incident mattered beyond one capsule: Starliner’s delays left SpaceX as the only operational U.S. commercial crew provider for ISS missions, according to an earlier NASA OIG report. NASA’s Commercial Crew Program was intended to maintain multiple providers; Starliner’s future crew certification remained uncertain in the OIG’s March 2026 status.
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