Yeah, I think they've got the technical part completely wrong. The helium leak probably has little to do with the thruster problem, which is apparently caused by overheating. And the helium definitely does not "push the propellant out of the ship."
And the parachute part is new to me too, and I've been following this story closely from some of the better space journalists (Eric Berger et. al.).
But hey, Discover Magazine is all science-y, so I guess they oughta know.
