She comes out praising Starliner a week before NASA may decide how Butch and Sunni come home.  Perhaps they think that her opinion will sway people to the Starliner option.

In my opinion, she just loses any credibility that she had a week ago.

Media teleconference tomorrow at 1pm EDT

NASA SMA chief and Chief Astronaut will also be in attendance.

Are they going to be brave, and admit they have to use an alternate return method, or cave to the political pressure, and risk another Columbia?

The crew on Columbia were conscious until the cabin breached.

If Stayliner departs and then the thrusters fail before the deorbit burn, a conscious crew on reentry won't be a problem.  

Given the problem seems to be heat buildup in the doghouses, it'll probably work just fine now that they know how to work around the problem.  If you S L O W L Y maneuver, the doghouses don't overheat and the thrusters work fine.

Yep, they need to change the Starliners name from Calypso to SS Minnow.

Butch even kinda looks like the Skipper.

On a somewhat related note.



I thought this looked pretty.

I'll be surprised if they make an announcement today.  I expect them to delay until after the election.

Damn!!

The price has tripled, over 6 years overdue so far and this gem -

Engineer talks in a disjointed manner about Stayliner's issues; replays the press conference in a reordered manner that makes more sense than his ramblings:



Engineer seems particularly disgruntled that the uniformed mob has seemingly been proven right, with no actual engineering data driving the hue & cry.

I wonder is they're holding their ISO certification.

All these Starliner threads with the same shit.

This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone on this site. We have at least one member who has been involved with inspecting their fighter aircraft who has been saying quite loudly that Boeing product quality control has gone off a cliff over the last few years.

And unfortunately these... "Strategies" are not a problem unique to Boeing. I wouldn't be too shocked if it turned out that a lot of these new weapons that have been cranked out in the wake of the Ukraine War turn out to be defective. There is a terrifying amount of rot, rust and straight up corruption in the military industrial complex these days.

It would be nice if @Aimless would close all 3 dupe threads & start his own.

SpaceTuber's replay & commentary of yesterday's press conference, along w/ an appropriate song set to a tune you're very familiar w/:

Thank you for posting this in two of the threads.

Posted it in all 4.  Wish we only had one thread.  Perhaps someone will call dupe after 70 days?

Instead of flushing the dupes mods should have the ability to merge the threads.

I informed the army dude that his was a dupe but he seems to not care.

The decision may be made in the 23-26 August time frame....or later.


"Two NASA astronauts who have had their mission to the International Space Station repeatedly extended due to problems with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft will need to wait at least another week before they learn how and when they are returning to Earth.

At a Wednesday new conference, NASA officials said a decision should come at the end of next week or the beginning of the following week."

Source

I suspect that no matter what, they will return after the election

bingo

NASA’s tentative date for Starliner’s undocking from the International Space Station is September 6, whether the spacecraft is crewed or not. Final decision on Butch and Suni likely to be made about 10 days from now. Both options being worked still.

Eric Berger  (@SciGuySpace) August 15, 2024

Clarification! Targeted date for a crewed undock is actually September 2. Uncrewed undock target is September 6.

Eric Berger  (@SciGuySpace) August 15, 2024

NASA acknowledges it cannot quantify risk of Starliner propulsion issues

"We don’t have enough insight and data to make some sort of simple black-and-white calculation."

Then it isn’t human rated. A complete failure for Boeing.

Space flight is NOT the purpose of the Boeing Starliner Program.  NOT.

The Starliner Program purpose is to receive money from the Federal Government.  A tiny fraction of that now "off the Federal books" money is then returned to the US political class.

Higher cost = more money to the political class.  Cost overrun = more money to the political class.

One way of causing cost overruns is to sabotage the Boeing C suite by placing fuckups or Left political people in key C suite positions.  Who chooses Boeing top management?  The choosers have to be fuckups or Left political persons themselves, before the C suite can be sabotaged.

More Cost Overruns = More Money to The Party.  See?

Besides the more money benefit, there is the cultural benefit.  Boeing brings status, prestige and positive image to America.  To degrade America, degrade Boeing.  First tear down America, second rebuild America as a higher profit to the Left cash cow.  It's not just Boeing, the US Government and the US media are attacking other American corporations too.  This is the Left business model in action.

Contrast this to Musk's space programs.  Musk's goal is space.  The Party's goal is to funnel more bribe money to itself.  Those are two completely different goals, on opposite ends of the field.

Boeing Starliner Program is doing its job: 1 funnel money to The Party and 2 degrade American prestige.  This isn't rocket science, it is easy to see.

As a fixed-cost program, Starliner has cost Boeing billions out of their own pocket and they are desperate to get out from under it.

I wonder how DAU will make this into another 32 CLP class.

Kharn

Beyond starliner, this shitshow could change how similar programs are run in the future.  Regardless of whether it makes it back to earth in one piece or not, it will be a case study in engineering, program management, .gov contracting, and other fields just like other similarly spectacular situations.  

These days everybody is primed to defer to safety - cost, schedule, and mission accomplishment are secondary to safety.  
It's possible starliner has reached the point where technical complexity is so great that the bureaucracy cannot ever be satisfied that it is "safe enough".  

Space X is solely managed by Elon and he answers to nobody.  Such an arrangement has historically been where the most legendary accomplishments are made: Wright brothers and flying(note that Langley was .gov funded to make an airplane and he failed miserably), Kelly Johnson and the skunkworks, Steve Jobs and the iphone, the blue LED guy, and countless others.  Who dares wins is real - you can't project manage your way into the winner's circle forever.  

This is why Japan, Inc. is about "continuous improvement," not "continuous innovation." Consensus-seeking and strict work rules create excellent quality but choke off world-beating breakthroughs.

Funny how that is. They certainly make quality products. But they have to wait until someone else comes up with the thing to be copied.

There are some very nasty cultural toxcities that are methodically killing Japan. Varieties of these issues are killing China and South Korea and even having horrible effects in this country.

But thats not your fault. Its always someone elses problem. So the can will be kicked down the road until... I don't know. Mad Max style cannibal biker armies in stifling leather bondage gear slaughter all the old people and enslave or devour the tiny handful of surviving young people?

That's one way to balance Social Security.

Boeing 777X test fleet grounded due to cracked engine mounts

Boeing is really having a rough run.

The stranded Boeing Starliner astronauts have another problem They might hitch a ride back to Earth on with SpaceX. But Boeing spacesuits aren't compatible with SpaceX

"If astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were to hitch a ride back to Earth on a SpaceX Crew Dragon, they would need new spacesuits. Boeing’s (BA) intravehicular activity suits aren’t compatible with SpaceX’s spacecraft."

Discussed here perhaps two months ago.  This is not a new development.

After months of mulling, NASA will decide on Starliner return this weekend


Space.com webcast of NASA decision press conference




"Senior NASA leaders, including the agency's administrator Bill Nelson, will meet Saturday in Houston to decide whether Boeing's Starliner spacecraft is safe enough to ferry astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams back to Earth from the International Space Station.

The Flight Readiness Review (FRR) is expected to conclude with NASA's most consequential safety decision in nearly a generation. One option is to clear the Starliner spacecraft to undock from the space station in early September with Wilmore and Williams onboard, as their flight plan initially laid out, or to bring the capsule home without its crew.

The suspect thrusters are located on Starliner's service module, which will perform the deorbit burn, and then separate from the astronaut-carrying crew module before reentry. A separate set of small engines will fine-tune Starliner's trajectory during descent.

If NASA managers decide it's not worth the risk, Wilmore and Williams would extend their stay on the space station until at least February of next year, when they would return to Earth inside a Dragon spacecraft provided by SpaceX, Boeing's rival in NASA's commercial crew program. This would eliminate the threat that thruster problems on the Starliner spacecraft might pose to the crew's safety during the trip to Earth, but it comes with myriad side effects.

These effects include disrupting crew activities on the space station by bumping two astronauts off the next SpaceX flight, exposing Wilmore and Williams to additional radiation during their time in space, and dealing a debilitating blow to Boeing's Starliner program.

If Boeing's capsule cannot return to Earth with its two astronauts, NASA may not certify Starliner for operational crew missions without an additional test flight. In that case, Boeing probably wouldn't be able to complete all six of its planned operational crew missions under a $4.2 billion NASA contract before the International Space Station is due for retirement in 2030.

The Flight Readiness Review at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston will begin Saturday morning. Ken Bowersox, a former astronaut and head of NASA's Space Operations Mission Directorate, will chair the meeting. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson will participate, too. If there's no unanimous agreement around the table at the FRR, a final decision on what to do could be elevated above Bowersox to NASA's associate administrator, Jim Free or to Nelson.

"The agency flight readiness review is where any formal dissents are presented and reconciled," NASA said in a statement Thursday. "Other agency leaders who routinely participate in launch and return readiness reviews for crewed missions include NASA’s administrator, deputy administrator, associate administrator, various agency center directors, the Flight Operations Directorate, and agency technical authorities."

NASA has scheduled a press conference for no earlier than 1 pm ET (17:00 UTC) Saturday to announce the agency's decision and next steps, the agency said."

Don't know which would suck worse:

a) Watching your spacecraft undock and leave without you, or

b) Boarding the spacecraft for your return knowing that NASA and Boeing are just kind of crossing their fingers and tossing the dice.
.

For me? B would suck worse, at least if it killed me coming down. I would have no qualms with coming back on a Dragon. Soyuz... I would be slightly worried that the Russians might take me hostage.

I have read of no discussion about a dedicated "Uber" flight using the Crew Dragon.    Put it on Boeing's tab.   Two Crew-9 folks are not kicked off the Crew-9 flight.

Other threads:

https://www.ar15.com/forums/general/Boeing-Starliner-stranded-in-orbit-SpaceX-gets-contract-to-look-at-returning-astronauts-/5-2729986/

https://www.ar15.com/forums/general/First-Starliner-crew-launched-Return-decision-23-August-Page-26-post-38/5-2715743/

https://www.ar15.com/forums/general/Starliner-astronauts-in-space-over-60-days-with-no-end-in-sight-/5-2741181/

https://www.ar15.com/forums/general/Which-arrives-in-the-US-first-Boeing-s-Stayliner-or-Magpul-s-TMags-/5-2741306/

https://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=2744183

Send the extra seats and space suits up on a cargo dragon, and then return them with Crew 8.

The second one is this thread...the original.  All the others are dupes and should be deleted.

I have not seen details on whether this is possible.   Can they add any seat structure to Crew-8 while at the ISS?

You could send that stuff up on Crew-9 since both are docked at the same time for several days.

Again, in orbit, all things are possible w/ enough money.

Of course extra seats can be added to Crew-8 Dragon while on orbit.  Are there parts available from Amazon?  No.

Parts should be available from SpaceX

From the SpaceX website:

"The Dragon spacecraft is capable of carrying up to 7 passengers to and from Earth orbit, and beyond. It is the only spacecraft currently flying that is capable of returning significant amounts of cargo to Earth, and is the first private spacecraft to take humans to the space station. "

I'm now hearing from multiple people that Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will come back to Earth on Crew Dragon. It's not official, and won't be until NASA says so. Still, it is shocking to think about. I mean, Dragon is named after Puff the Magic Dragon. This industry is wild.

Eric Berger  (@SciGuySpace) August 23, 2024

I move we take the meeting into closed session until we can reach consensus on the number of dupe threads we have and will allow going forward.

All in favor?

Aye!

Fortunately it sounds like there will not be some kind of disaster that will result in another dozen threads.