Boeing's Starliner capsule leaking helium.

[unknown]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nasa-extends-starliner-stay-space-station-helium-leaks-thruster-issues/


"Boeing's leak-prone Starliner capsule will remain docked to the International Space Station for an additional four days, NASA announced Tuesday, returning to Earth with a pre-dawn landing at White Sands, New Mexico, on June 26 to close out an extended 20-day test flight — the first with astronauts aboard.

The additional docked time will give Starliner commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore and co-pilot Sunita Williams more time to help out aboard the station while flight controllers continue scrutinizing telemetry and finalizing plans for re-entry with five known helium leaks in the capsule's propulsion system and unexpected behavior in multiple maneuvering jets."

 

[unknown]

https://x.com/MrJerryGoode/status/1805375984990138497

 

[unknown]

 

[Brian4Liberty]

Another quality Boeing product. Amazing how miserably this public/private partnership has failed, while Musk has been so successful.

Boeing is now a poster child for big bureaucratic, big government, big money incompetence. A company and projects driven by corrupt cronyism and woke leftist politics instead of actual engineering. Without Space X as an example of competence, everyone would just be saying "but this is very complex and difficult, and these problems are to be expected."

 

[PAF]

Another quality Boeing product. Amazing how miserably this public/private partnership has failed, while Musk has been so successful.

Boeing is now a poster child for big bureaucratic, big government, big money incompetence. A company and projects driven by corrupt cronyism and woke leftist politics instead of actual engineering. Without Space X as an example of competence, everyone would just be saying "but this is very complex and difficult, and these problems are to be expected."

Though Tesla has paid back the loans, Musk takes government subsidies nonetheless [yes, I know, they all do :-( ].

Elon Musk is speaking out against government subsidies. Here's a list of the billions of dollars his businesses have received.

 

[unknown]

RIP Barry "Butch" Wilmore.

RIP Sunita Williams.

 

[unknown]

I guess he should bang her just in case this is it.

But how do you explain it to your SOs if you survive?

 

[fedupinmo]

Are the radio calls hilarious?

 

[Voluntarist]

Boeing is now a poster child for big bureaucratic, big government, big money incompetence. A company and projects driven by corrupt cronyism and woke leftist politics instead of actual engineering. Without Space X as an example of competence, everyone would just be saying "but this is very complex and difficult, and these problems are to be expected."

Putting numbers to that:

The Commercial Crew Development contracts were awarded to Boeing and SpaceX on 2014SEP16.

Space X was awarded $2.6 billion to build the Dragon V2 spacecraft, an upgraded version of the Dragon spacecraft that was already in use to transport cargo to and from the ISS. SpaceX launched the first manned flight of the Crew Dragon (with 4 crew members) to the ISS on 2020NOV16.

Boeing was awarded $4.2 billion to build the CST-100 spacecraft, which it had been working on since the initial phases of NASA’s commercial crew program in 2010. Boeing launched the first manned flight of the CST-100 (with 2 crew members) to the ISS on 2024JUN05. Not only was the Boeing contract more expensive than that of SpaceX, and execution to the goal significantly longer; but it's greater than $1.5 billion over budget (that it's going to have to eat on its own).

 

[Brian4Liberty]

Putting numbers to that:

The Commercial Crew Development contracts were awarded to Boeing and SpaceX on 2014SEP16.

Space X was awarded $2.6 billion to build the Dragon V2 spacecraft, an upgraded version of the Dragon spacecraft that was already in use to transport cargo to and from the ISS. SpaceX launched the first manned flight of the Crew Dragon (with 4 crew members) to the ISS on 2020NOV16.

Boeing was awarded $4.2 billion to build the CST-100 spacecraft, which it had been working on since the initial phases of NASA’s commercial crew program in 2010. Boeing launched the first manned flight of the CST-100 (with 2 crew members) to the ISS on 2024JUN05. Not only was the Boeing contract more expensive than that of SpaceX, and execution to the goal significantly longer; but it's greater than $1.5 billion over budget (that it's going to have to eat on its own).

Insane. Boeing has been working on it since 2010. Incompetence and waste. But at least they have a global team and a super great DEI score!

 

[sparebulb]

I don't keep up with the NASA nonsense, but wasn't there a time when there was a russian capsule there about all the time just in case they had to bug out? Or did I mis-remember that.

For that matter, are the Russians still participating in the space station?

Hopefully, if it comes down to it, our brave astronuts will understand why we can't allow the Russians to save them.

Slava Ukraini and all......

 

[Voluntarist]

Insane. Boeing has been working on it since 2010. Incompetence and waste. But at least they have a global team and a super great DEI score!

Are you sure you have that acronym correct? I thought it was DIE (Diversity, Inclusion and Equity) - probably more applicable to manned space-based projects than your typical office environment.

 

[Brian4Liberty]

I don't keep up with the NASA nonsense, but wasn't there a time when there was a russian capsule there about all the time just in case they had to bug out? Or did I mis-remember that.
...

IIRC, you are correct. But it would have to land in Russia, and the optics would be pretty bad. Plus the emergency escape pod would then be gone...

 

[acptulsa]

Are you sure you have that acronym correct? I thought it was DIE (Diversity, Inclusion and Equity) - probably more applicable to manned space-based projects than your typical office environment.

It's correct.

DIE was a completely different project -- the DNA Injection by Eugenicists.

 

[Voluntarist]

Keep in mind, also, that the Falcon 9 boosters, which Crew Dragon launches on, are reusable. That decreases the life cycle costs of using SpaceX. The Atlas 5 boosters, that Starliner uses, are completely expendable.

Landing vertically - as Robert Heinlein and Max Hunter intended:

 

[sparebulb]

I've always thought that the video of the boosters landing seemed fake.

 

[pmbug]

I saw this yesterday and had a chuckle even though it's not what it's characterized as being:

 

[Voluntarist]

I don't keep up with the NASA nonsense, but wasn't there a time when there was a russian capsule there about all the time just in case they had to bug out? Or did I mis-remember that.

Yes, there are currently two Soyuz spacecraft docked at the ISS. Soyuz-25 left Earth in March carrying three cosmonauts to the ISS. It'll stay there until September when it'll return two Russian cosmonauts and one US astronaut to Earth (so it's already booked).

And then there's Soyuz MS-23, which was sent uncrewed to the ISS to replace Soyuz MS-22, which launched in September 2022 carrying a full crew of three. That replacement was necessary in order to allow transport back to Earth for three ISS crew that had been stranded there when Soyuz MS-22 developed coolant leaks. So MS-23 is also fully booked.

For that matter, are the Russians still participating in the space station?

Yes, Russia is still involved in the ISS, at least through 2028. It's made noises that its participation will end at that point, which leaves the ISS at a loss in one particularly critical area, Propulsion (to periodically boost its orbit as well as to avoid space debris).

 

[unknown]

I saw this yesterday and had a chuckle even though it's not what it's characterized as being:

 

[TheCount]

Boeing is now a poster child for big bureaucratic, big government, big money incompetence. A company and projects driven by corrupt cronyism and woke leftist politics instead of actual engineering. Without Space X as an example of competence, everyone would just be saying "but this is very complex and difficult, and these problems are to be expected."

This is what happens in cost+ government contracts. It's a blank check with no risk.


SpaceX would (will) have the exact problems if they were given the same contract.