It's Sounding Like Boeing's Starliner May Have Completely Failed

[quote] If SpaceX does get the green light, expect the Starliner project to be shoved into the proverbial dumpster, according to Ars' analysis.

[quote] It would be a bad look all around, because it would mean the American government had funneled a total of $5.8 billion into malfunctioning junk.

HO.

LEE.

CRAP.

And we American taxpayers are stuck with the bill.

But of course, we can't afford tax cuts for the middle class, or any of the programs that would benefit poor Americans.

I almost have a panic attack just reading this headline:

[quote]Boeing Starliner astronauts have now been in space more than 60 days with no end in sight

Space..

Amateurs!

Public executions would be nice. The destruction of their greed is just as bad as a murderer or anyone else we'd gladly throw to the gallows.

This sounds a little like SpaceX PR. I can believe the Boeing Starliner is a piece of crap, but would NASA outsource the astronaut retrieval? Is that what they are taking about? I don’t know anything about current programs or how NASA works with contractors.

[quote]but would NASA outsource the astronaut retrieval?

Does NASA have any flight-ready spacecraft on the launch pad? Has NASA had any such vehicle for decades?

I have no idea, R7. I really know nothing. I googled and couldn’t get a sense easily. But this is reminding me of when Elon Musk got so pissy because he didn’t get to be the hero of the Thailand cave incident.

- R6

Boeing fails again.

Ground Control to Major Tom…

NASA's STS/Orion can't really launch to ISS, it's designed to go to the moon (and since it's so outrageously expensive and takes so long to build/prep, it would be stupid to try). SpaceX's Dragon is the only US manned craft capable of flying to the ISS, and it can for reasonable $$. Russia's Soyuz also can, but that's not feasible politically. Theretically, China could do it, but that's also politically fraught.

NASA should be leading and controlling US space exploration rather than subcontracting new missions and spaceships to wannabe tech companies.

[quote] SpaceX's Dragon is the only US manned craft capable of flying to the ISS, and it can for reasonable $$

Is this Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk.

I'd rather the contract go to Bezos. FUCK ELON MUSK!

Next headline:

BOEING IS DEAD TO ME!

R12, I strongly disagree. NASA is too prone to mismanagement and lobbying pressure. It's one reason Boeing got such favored status with the ISS contract and got away with substandard work.

They're never coming back, are they?

It doesn’t look good.

R15 Perhaps, but how good is this mission headed by Beoing's Starliner going?

R12 Republicans hate NASA which isn’t surprising since they hate everything. They are responsible for a lot of the issues NASA is facing.

They said on the news tonight they may be stuck up there til NEXT YEAR???

[quote] They said on the news tonight they may be stuck up there til NEXT YEAR???

So long!

Farewell!

Auf wiedersehen!

Goodbye!

I don't mean to alarm anyone. But there's something very sinister going on here.

I'm very sorry, Dave.....

So, where are they getting food and water from? Door Dash?

NASA contracts unmanned Commercial Resupply Missions from Orbital ATK (Northrop Grumman) and SpaceX that carry supplies to the station.

[quote]NASA is too prone to mismanagement and lobbying pressure.

[quote]Republicans hate NASA which isn’t surprising since they hate everything.

These two statements are correlated. In the Republican quest to privatize everything (because we simply must make a buck off of everything), the GQP has hung NASA out to dry for decades. Nevermind that we owe basically all modern technology and the entire tech sector to NASA's incredible investments and efforts going back to the 1950s and 1960s (you know, back when America was "great" according to the Trump-Heritage-Federalist cabal; also, not uncoincidentally, when the marginal tax rate was 92% and we said to the wealthy either they spend their money for the public good or we'll tax it and spend it for them, which resulted in an educational system that was the envy of the world, libraries, museums, hospitals, the interstate highway system, and everything else that made life in America better than anyplace else). No, we had to privatize space exploration and force NASA to purchase the vehicles and systems rather than build it themselves, which means that the safety, reliability, and functionality of these vehicles is now subject to private profit taking which invariably leads to cut corners, shoddy cost-saving workmanship, and... astronauts stranded in space.

And further nevermind that we [italic]always[/italic] excuse private corporation abject failure, but never, ever allow for government to make a mistake.

The only good news here is that Elmo will move heaven and Earth to get these astronauts back because if we lose them it will bring a complete halt to the entire program just like when the Challenger blew up and stopped all manned missions for over a decade. Frankly, if I were NASA's administrator, I'd be on the phone to Russia and China seeing if they could help out because Elmo will use this to extract even more $billions from taxpayers to spend on promoting his fascist agenda even further and wider.

And as far as Boeing: all purchases for Starliner and everything they sell in this regard should be immediately cancelled. And that goes for commercial airlines, too, because Boeing was lost when they sold it to private equity, the profit vultures descended and wrecked a sterling reputation, and their equipment can no longer be trusted.

[quote]No, we had to privatize space exploration and force NASA to purchase the vehicles and systems rather than build it themselves, which means that the safety, reliability, and functionality of these vehicles is now subject to private profit taking which invariably leads to cut corners, shoddy cost-saving workmanship, and... astronauts stranded in space.

Perhaps you've forgotten the Space Shuttle disasters. Or neglected to pay attention to the astronomical costs and delays of the NASA-driven STS system, which is only progressing because Congress has gleefully sliced up the pork.

No, haven't forgotten about Challenger and Columbia at all. As I wrote, private corporations can fuck up left and right and we look the other way, but government makes a mistake and we dismantle the entire effort. The STS program is a chicken-or-egg type of quandary: did NASA fuck it up by going to private contractors or did private contractors fuck it up by cutting corners, shrugging their shoulders at safety, and using space exploration as a profit center?

Another Boeing fuck-up.

Boeing sure went down the shitter fast.

[quote] No, we had to privatize space exploration

[quote] Perhaps you've forgotten the Space Shuttle disasters.

Lest you forget, it was a PRIVATE COMPANY that manufactured the O-Rings which were at fault for the Challenger shuttle disaster.

[bold]Test data since 1977 demonstrated a potentially catastrophic flaw in the SRBs' O-rings, but neither NASA nor SRB manufacturer Morton Thiokol had addressed this known defect. NASA managers also disregarded engineers' warnings about the dangers of launching in cold temperatures and did not report these technical concerns to their superiors.[/bold]

From what I have read the O-rings issue was considered an unproven theory and the fact that it had test and flown previously without a problem made the claims that they were potentially flawed dismissed.

They ain’t returning to earth.

I hope they were sent up there with 5g of pentobarbital each. In ten minutes you're deeply asleep, dead 20 or 30 minutes after that.

R30, name a manned NASA launch program that wasn't built by private companies. I'll wait.

Private companies were subcontractors to NASA, and were managed by NASA. Today they are basically allowing private companies to run the show. This is what Republicans have been angling for since the Reagan years. To kill government managed technology agencies by underfunding or defunding them, so the government can instead give very generous $$$$$$$$ contract to private companies to run the projects for considerably more than if NASA did them.

Yes, contracts are now more expansive, in that companies are building more complete systems, where previously they might only have built a subsystem. However, companies still have to bid for contracts, and it's become very competitive (or at least as competitive as NASA has permitted). This has resulted in drastically less expensive and more efficient launch systems, despite Boeing's cockups. As much as I detest Musk personally, SpaceX has seriously disrupted the old guard of the aerospace industry and forced them to try to catch up with his reusable vehicle approach, which has dramatically reduced launch costs. Look up some comparisons of costs per ton to orbit from the various contractors - it's really surprising.

The other thing is that NASA isn't the only regulator involved. The FAA is also involved in ensuring systems are safe. And, even if you hate how particular airlines operate, the US model of airline safety regulation has worked extraordinarily well at keeping costs down and safety high. Using the airline model of regulated private industry for spaceflight just makes sense.

R33, I've wondered if astronauts are given a "black capsule" to have on hand in case the unthinkable were to happen.

They could come home tomorrow if they needed to — there’s a soacex craft at the station.

Boeing is running tests on their craft in space because they can’t run. Those tests under the same conditions on earth.

That link posted above is the futurism dot com, a pretty shady outfit.

They'll be up there when the world destroys itself.

Then they will be the only humans left.

NASA is bringing the Starliner back unmanned. The astronauts will have to stay up there until February 2025.

Lol R40.

What a shit show.

So until after the election, good! Two dead astronauts floating up there in space as the October surprise is the last thing we need.

You'd think they'd have parachutes.

[quote]The uncrewed return allows NASA and Boeing to continue gathering testing data on Starliner during its upcoming flight home, while also not accepting more risk than necessary for its crew.

I'm not a scientist, but I'm pretty sure the finding is big fuckin' failure.

Look at what it's done to this poor woman's hair!

NASA has made the call - SpaceX will bring them back IN FEBRUARY.

They've already been up there months longer than planned. Now, it's another SIX months before they get to come back.

At least it doesn't sound like the classic disaster movie where they are in danger of running out of oxygen (or food and water).

How do they go to the bathroom up there? Do they just dump it out into outer space?

I'd guess they drop a floater.

Something really went wrong with Boeing about a decade ago. The introduction of the 787s and 737MAXs were disasters and now the newest version of the 777, in addition to the Starliner. It used to be a Washington State based corporation with high standards. They moved some manufacturing to cheaper labor, low-education red states like South Carolina and Kansas. HQ moved to Chicago - away from factories in the Seattle/Renton, WA area. Seems they lost touch with their workers and are now trying to fix that, which may take years.

Although Airbus in its infancy had design and software problems with their planes, today I will only fly on Airbus aircraft.

Bunch of idiots here. They have plenty of food water and anything they need for several months you do know that people come and go to ISS all the time. 😵‍💫

[quote]They have plenty of food water and anything they need for several months

So they can order Dominos Pizza and have it delivered?

It's a good thing they are botanists.

[quote] Look at what it's done to this poor woman's hair!

Never mind her hair, what's wrong with her face??

R45 bitch stole my do...

Oh well, it's Elon Musk to the rescue.

Of course Boeing announced this on a Saturday.

Why can’t they send in SPACE FORCE?

And people get mad at Section 8? I mean what-the-hell do you want our tax dollars to go for if not to help us?

That thing's probably had more recalls than my Kia Soul

Are they having sex?

She’s post-menopausal. …no more than a gravity-free handjob.

If its Boeing, I'm not going!

Boeing is gonna die up there.

I hope they're both straight so they can find something to occupy their free time.

Serious question: what do they do all day?

Suni, you in danger, girl.

A mysterious sound heard emanating from the Boeing Starliner spacecraft has been identified as feedback from a speaker, NASA said in a statement Monday assuring the capsule's autonomous flight back to Earth is still slated to depart as early as Friday.

"The feedback from the speaker was the result of an audio configuration between the space station and Starliner," NASA said, adding that it's "common" to experience noise and feedback. The statement said the "pulsing sound" has stopped.

"The crew is asked to contact mission control when they hear sounds originating in the comm system," NASA said. "The speaker feedback Wilmore reported has no technical impact to the crew, Starliner, or station operations, including Starliner’s uncrewed undocking from the station no earlier than Friday, Sept. 6."

Word of the sound spread after audio was released of an exchange between Mission Control at Johnson Space Center in Houston and Barry “Butch” Wilmore, one of the two astronauts stuck aboard the International Space Station after the troubled Starliner flight docked in early June.

"There's a strange noise coming through the speaker ... I don't know what's making it," Wilmore said, according to Ars Technica, which first reported the exchange, citing an audio recording shared by Michigan-based meteorologist Rob Dale.

In the recording, Mission Control said they were connected and could listen to audio from inside the spacecraft. Wilmore, who boarded the Starliner, picked up the sound on his microphone. "Alright Butch, that one came through," Mission Control said. "It was kind of like a pulsing noise, almost like a sonar ping."

"I'll do it one more time, and I'll let y'all scratch your heads and see if you can figure out what's going on," Wilmore replied. "Alright, over to you. Call us if you figure it out."

The Starliner, which departed for its inaugural flight on June 5, was only scheduled to spend a week docked at the space station. But as the Starliner arrived in orbit, NASA announced helium leaks and issues with the control thrusters had been discovered, forcing the crew to stay at the space station for several months.

The mysterious sound began emanating from the Starliner about a week before the spacecraft is slated to undock from the space station without its crew and make its autonomous journey back to Earth.

NASA announced on Thursday that, “pending weather and operational readiness,” the Starliner will begin its flight on Friday and will touch down after midnight on Saturday at a landing zone in White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.

The two-member crew including Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams will remain at the space station for another six months until they return in February aboard the SpaceX Dragon capsule.

They might have the last laugh, yet.