[practicemaths]

I hope it does not. We do not need more space debris in orbit or more risk to the station and crew.

Also if it lands okay then they are more likely to deduce and correct what the issues are for a possible future mission (though at this point I do not know the likelyhood that Starliner will get another chance)

[jakeinspace]

It would only "blow up" on reentry, don’t think there’s much risk of an actual pressure vessel rupture or hypergolic explosion. So no space debris at least, just littering the ocean.

[Shekelphile]

> I hope it does not. We do not need more space debris in orbit or more risk to the station and crew.

Even if such an explosion happened the debris wouldn't be around for long, stuff in LEO will fall back to earth quite quickly without stationkeeping.

[akira2501]

Vehicles in LEO have taken near catastrophic strikes before. There's a better safety margin, but it's not reduced to zero.

[mhandley]

The problematic thrusters are in the service module, which separates and burns up on reentry. So even if it lands OK, they won't learn anything new about the thruster problem by recovering the capsule.

[CrazyStat]

If it were to blow up it would almost certainly be in the atmosphere due to entering at a bad angle or something. This would leave no debris in orbit and would not endanger the station or crew.