Double post

They are still trying to find the summer intern to blame it on and for CNN to write the announcement.

Starts at 1 pm eastern

I think Butch and Suni are both looking at each other right now wondering which one is going to draw the short straw.

For the added drama effect...

LOL - watching the presser now and nothing but praise for Boeing. They get a gold star for effort, apparently.

Next year on Crew 9.

Now thanking Aerojet Rocketdyne and Moog (valve mfg) for their hard work.

Dang, tried to embed a tweet and it didn't work.

Butch and Suni are coming home... on a Dragon.

Attached File

NASA folks going on and on about test flights, space is hard, supporting exploration...

Starliner is supposed to be a bus to LEO, FFS.

Apparently a lot of instutional knowledge went out the window when the Shuttle stopped flying.

I read about NASA losing some older documentation over the years due to hurricane damage to warehouses they stored paperwork in.  The roofs would get damaged, water would leak in, then decisions would be made whether old paperwork is relevant or not.  i would've thought they would've relocated important paper and data tapes to a place outside the storm belt long ago.

NASA seems to have made a few mistakes with valuable data. Probably the most famous one was losing the original footage of the Apollo 11 landing.

They shouldn't really need any, Boeing and Space X are the launch contractors.

The launch should have never happened though. They knew there were problems and went anyways. Heads need to roll far and wide for that decision.

Exactly. NASA is supposed to be buying a service, not a vehicle.

Jesus christ. Press F for Boeing shareholders.

Is it just me, or is anyone else thinking about shorting $10,000 worth of BA, as soon as the markets open monday?

The rumors of this happening have been pretty strong for weeks, so it's at least partially factored into the current price. I would be surprised if it takes a big nose dive just on this news.

SpaceX stands ready to support @NASA however we can https://t.co/wekmURt8CX

— Gwynne Shotwell (@Gwynne_Shotwell) August 24, 2024

I know she means well but her detractors are going to see that as trolling.

Eh, trolling is more Elon's department. I kinda like it when she gets in on it though. As of late it seems to be because someone else in the industry screwed up royally. Which seems to be the case here.

She's the business manager, at Space X. It's her job,  to drive the dagger into
her competitor's guts, & twist it......

Dunno, they called Bil Nelson, in, on a saturday (no accident, that.....) to finally announce "BOEING, YOUR SHIT  SUCKS, WONT TRUST ASTRONAUTS LIVES WITH IT..."
The full weight & force of .gov, in a no-confidence vote, just officially dropped on BA, like a ton of bricks. I believe this with impact far more than  just the  
Starliner program, it's not like BA has been setting the world on fire lately,  with the news coming out of there.  The  chickens, are coming home to roost.

Did they mention at the press conference about other options to get Butch and Suni back:

1)  Dedicated Crew Dragon transportation.

2)  Send up seats and spacesuits on Crew-9 and fit the seats to the returning Crew-8 capsule with Butch and Suni onboard around early October 2024.

3)  Fit two extra seats to the Crew-9 capsule and along with two extra space suits send up the original four Crew-9 folks and bring them and Butch and Suni back in 2025.

There is a simulation next Wednesday and if that goes well they may set a date for the return of the uncrewed Starliner.    Don't consider anything concrete until they start the undocking process.

Boeing Corporate HQ, right now:

I think they can get it to safe distance and separation from the ISS.  Later in the mission during the deorbit and attitude burns it may fail.

Whether it fails or not they made the right decision to return on Crew Dragon.   I suspect that I and many others made that call over two months ago.

But Boeing tried really hard, and boy gee they are diverse, so cut them a break.  

I hope NASA kicks Boeing to the curb and doesn't let them do any more space-related work.

So I guess Boeing found the uncrewed .exe file and installed it?

Nah, they're gonna just undock it and use the CanadaArm to give it a shove, then hope for the best.

At this point Boeing is like a dumbass teenager that keeps fucking up and his mother keeps bailing him out. NASA needs to dump their sorry ass.

I made that call as soon as they extended the mission.

Boeing was paid billions more than SpaceX to be seven years late on a mission it could not complete . . . And will now be rescued from total disaster by SpaceX

Never forget, many bureaucrats wanted to sole source all of this to Boeing. pic.twitter.com/QEJ0ERuDq8

Ashlee Vance  (@ashleevance) August 25, 2024

Hardly anyone knows that there was a massive effort to block SpaceX from providing astronaut transport for NASA

Elon Musk  (@elonmusk) August 25, 2024

From a post I made here back in March of Boeing Stayliner progress.....

December 2019 - OFT-1 Software issues cause primary mission failure and "high visibility close call"
An issue with the spacecraft's Mission Elapsed Time (MET) clock occurred 31 minutes into flight. Due to intermittent space-to-ground communication issues flight controllers could not correct the issue.[13] This anomaly caused the spacecraft's Orbital Maneuvering Thrusters (OMT) to burn into an incorrect orbit causing too much propellant to be burned. This precluded a rendezvous and docking with the ISS.

After the mission, it was revealed that another critical software bug was found in flight, which could have resulted in the service module bumping back into Starliner after separation. The bug was fixed two hours before the capsule re-entered. Had the bug not been discovered and fixed, it may have damaged Starliner and prevented a safe landing.[15] Additionally, it was determined that had the first anomaly not occurred, the second would not have been detected.[16]

The mission was declared a "high visibility close call" as there were two times where the spacecraft could have been lost. NASA found factors internally that led to the anomalies such as the oversight over software.[20] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Orbital_Flight_Test

August 2021 - OFT-2 Valve failures cause scrub

Due to unexpected valve position indications in the Starliner propulsion system, the launch was further delayed to later in August while engineering teams investigated the problem. As a result, the Atlas V was rolled back to the VIF again for further testing.

Boeing decided to return the spacecraft back to the Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility in order to perform a deeper-level troubleshooting of the thirteen propulsion system valves, causing the launch to be delayed for another year.

May 2022 - OFT-2 Re-launch attempt - 2 thruster failures on orbit, and troubleshoot docking interface issues

After completing assembly of the rocket again at ULA's VIF, the launch took place on 19 May 2022 at 22:54 UTC, and completed the Orbital Insertion Burn at 31 minutes into the mission. During the Orbit Insertion Burn, two OMAC thrusters out of the twelve thrusters in the service module failed shortly after ignition, but Boeing says it does not pose a threat as on-board flight control system took over the situation and switched to backup thrusters to complete the burn successfully, and Starliner reached a good orbit.

Docking took place after a delay of about one hour, due to a need to retract and re-extend the ring clamp on its NDS docking interface.

On 25 May at 18:36 UTC, Starliner undocked from the ISS and successfully landed in White Sands, New Mexico at 22:49 UTC.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Orbital_Flight_Test_2

June 2023 - Boeing Crewed Flight Test - Boeing stands down prior to it's July launch to focus on parachute connector link issues and flammable wiring harness tape.

During a normal flight, these substandard links would not be an issue. But Starliner's parachute system is designed to land a crew safely in case one of the three parachutes fails. However, due to the lower failure load limit with these soft links, if one parachute fails, it's possible the lines between the spacecraft and its remaining two parachutes would snap due to the extra strain.

The second issue involves P-213 glass cloth tape that is wrapped around wiring harnesses throughout the vehicle. These cables run everywhere, and Nappi said there are hundreds of feet of these wiring harnesses. The tape is intended to protect the wiring from nicks. However, during recent tests, it was discovered that under certain circumstances possible in flight, this tape is flammable. https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/06/boeing-stands-down-from-starliner-launch-to-address-recently-found-problems/

And yet NASA an Boeing thought it was a good idea to light the candle and send Butch and Suni up in some garbage hardware.....and here we are....

Elon, when you send that Crew Dragon...please, please, please.... put an Uber sign in the window!!!!  

That will be a tough pill to swallow for legislators in whose districts all those jobs reside.  Some will fight tooth and nail to keep those (diverse) jobs in place, regardless of efficacy.

Boeing has also said they no longer plan on entering into any  more fixed price contracts.  They and Lockheed see the writing on the wall and are trying to sell ULA.
The recent OIG report gives more ammo to cancel SLS, which is just a matter of time with Starship coming online. Though I do think there may be enough political desire to get Artemis/Orion to the moon.

Scott Manley

When Starliner enters the upper atmosphere I'm going to hear.

"I've quadrupled my flip power!"

"No you haven't."