I'll be home as soon as I can
Boeing is closer to understanding thruster failures on its first astronaut flight with latest test.
I'll be home as soon as I can
Boeing is closer to understanding thruster failures on its first astronaut flight with latest test.
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
I read they will bring them home in a Ruskie capsule before they let SpaceX save the day. That petty attitude probably got them where they are now with a slow dying craft that is becoming more risk than it's worth.
I hope that is not the case
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
I like the tradition/process NASA continues of always building a working copy of its spacecraft - which allows them to work out such problems regardless of where the operational one is.
Hunter
I don't care if it hurts. I want to have control. I want a perfect body. I want a perfect soul. - Creep by Radiohead
That was the best learning experience on Apollo13. They had to figure out how to fit a square part into a round hole.
I've always been curious how the redesign of the filter system went. Did they go with the round hole or the square hole???
Law of holes: If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.
Hunter
I don't care if it hurts. I want to have control. I want a perfect body. I want a perfect soul. - Creep by Radiohead
Space X might be the solution to bring these two astronauts back home.
In a companion story a retired astronaut admits what NASA has been avoiding.NASA REPORTEDLY CONSIDERING RESCUING STRANDED ASTRONAUTS USING SPACEX SPACECRAFT
"SUITS ARE AVAILABLE FOR BUTCH AND SUNI."
Added in edit: I have seen stories in the media that NASA has found the root cause of the thruster problems---but I can't find confirmation of that on NASA's own site."Of course they don’t feel comfortable putting them in the vehicle," the retired astronaut told the magazine, referring to the Starliner, which transported the astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) back in June and is meant to return them back home. "Otherwise they would have put them in it already."
Last edited by Dave Grubb; 07-28-2024 at 08:51 AM.
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
It's Sounding Like Boeing's Starliner May Have Completely Failed.
But NASA seems to be holding fast in this report.It looks like NASA officials might be seeing the writing on the wall for the very troubled Boeing Starliner, which has marooned two astronauts up in space for almost two months due to technical issues.
An unnamed "informed" source told Ars Technica that there's a greater than 50 percent probability that the stranded astronauts will end up leaving the International Space Station on a SpaceX Dragon capsule, with another unnamed person telling the news outlet that the scenario is highly likely.
NASA officials are more cagey about what's happening on the record, a marked contrast from previous weeks when they expressed confidence in the Starliner's ability to safely bring back the astronauts.
Last edited by Dave Grubb; 08-03-2024 at 06:03 AM.
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
Increasingly this has the acerbic taste of politics.
Send Starliner home automatously and put the astronauts on another capsule with less uncertainty.NASA is considering keeping the two astronauts who flew Boeing's capsule to the International Space Station there until February as a result of issues the spaceship encountered midflight.
The agency said Wednesday that it is still evaluating options for how to bring NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams back to Earth safely, and that no plan has been made yet. But officials acknowledged more openly than before that they may decide to use a SpaceX capsule instead.
“Our prime option is to return Butch and Suni on Starliner,” Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said Wednesday in a news briefing. “However, we have done the requisite planning to make sure we have other options open, and so we have been working with SpaceX to ensure that they’re ready to respond.”
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
The key word of the matter.
I was considering the process of what would happen if I were up in space and was uncertain of when, and how, I'd return. Then I realized astronauts aren't like most of us. They know going, and coming from, space is always potentially hazardous. Yet they do it anyway. That's courageous, is what it is. It's no wonder many of our astronauts are former military men/women. They've been in dangerous situations before and have volunteered to do it again.
Hunter
I don't care if it hurts. I want to have control. I want a perfect body. I want a perfect soul. - Creep by Radiohead
I hope they send the capsule into reentry just to see what would have happened. Plus, there has to be some good parts left on it.
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
It's been interesting to watch NASA operate during my lifetime. Whenever the agency encounters problems (including death), they do something about it - and we end up with increasingly epic journeys. Hence, I'm betting they learned quite a bit from this latest setback.
Hunter
I don't care if it hurts. I want to have control. I want a perfect body. I want a perfect soul. - Creep by Radiohead
I'll have to disagree... Bean counters learn nothing of value from this. NASA needs to be placed back in the hands of engineers that will learn.
and then there is this
Now, the report from NASA's inspector general has found that the second stage of the Space Launch System — the part Boeing is responsible for — is significantly over budget. It blew through an original estimate of $962 million in 2017, and the projected price tag for the work through 2025 is now $2.8 billion.
The project is also years behind schedule: Boeing pushed back delivery of the rocket stage from February 2021 to April 2027.
As for Boeing's quality control practices, the NASA inspector general said that from 2021 to 2023, federal oversight officers issued 71 “Corrective Action Requests” to address “deficiencies in quality.”
Many of the requests took aim at Boeing’s work at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana.
“Quality control issues at Michoud are largely due to the lack of a sufficient number of trained and experienced aerospace workers at Boeing,” the report said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/spac...nts-rcna165813
"The only thing that we learn from torture is the depths of our own moral depravity"