How did the Starliner situation differ fundamentally from the Apollo 13 crisis?

Starliner required diagnostics on a non-critical, yet essential, subsystem before proceeding with a nominal return

The Starliner situation represented a key difference from dramatic past events like Apollo 13 because it was characterized as a 'deferred departure' rather than an 'inability to return' or a crisis requiring immediate, unconventional recovery. The Apollo 13 incident involved recovering from a major in-flight explosion that necessitated nursing the crippled spacecraft home using non-standard procedures. Conversely, the Starliner issue centered on diagnosing and gaining confidence in a subsystem—the RCS thrusters and associated propellant lines—before executing what was planned to be a nominal, albeit delayed, deorbit and reentry sequence. The critical difference lies in the engineering approach: one was recovering from damage, the other was validating performance parameters before proceeding.