Boeing Starliner

[MartG]

Landing livestream https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b38sm4h2iWA

[MartG]

The rate they're going it still won't be ready by the time the ISS is decommissioned

[MartG]

Flooble said:

Am I correct in thinking that the original contract for six flights has now been completed by SpaceX (bar the landing of the sixth flight)?

Yes, and due to the delay with Boeing they extended SpaceX's contract by an additional 5 flights

[MartG]

Flooble said:

With Starliner only rated to launch on Atlas, and all the Atlas boosters now booked, what booster would Boeing use to launch any other Starliner missions?

My feeling is that they are hoping NASA will pay for man-rating the Vulcan, rather than Boeing having to pay for it themselves. Not sure who paid to man-rate the Atlas V.

Of course they'd never consider putting it on a Falcon 9

[MartG]

Amazing how many companies enter a downward spiral after they get an accountant in charge

[MartG]

They also said the 737 Max was safe to fly...

https://spaceflightnow.com/2024/05/24/nasa-says-bo...

...and from the NASA side, they also said Challenger was good to go

[MartG]

48k said:

T minus 3 minutes and 50 seconds and the ground launch sequencer had a hiccup. Whatever happened to just CTRL+ALT+DELETE?

Allegedly there is no truth to the rumour that it runs on WindowsME

[MartG]

Beati Dogu said:

It's complicated by the fact it's an instantaneous launch window, because it's on an intercept with the ISS

Would the fact that they're trying for an instantaneous launch window of the first manned test flight indicate that the vehicle lacks the capability to reach the ISS from a lower phasing orbit ?

[MartG]

At last !

[MartG]

Two new helium leaks detected since arrival in orbit, in addition to the one they knew about before launch

There is a possibility they may have to abort the mission and return to Earth, or at least cut their time at the ISS short

[MartG]

Dog Star said:

At the moment I’m not convinced they’re going home on Starliner….

I know that SpaceX are due to launch Crew 9 in early August - I wonder how much they could bring that forward as a 'rescue' mission.

There are a few things they'd have to do first though, like build a couple of suits in Wilmore & Williams' sizes, as their Boeing ones won't be compatible with Dragon's environmental control system or seats.

Then do you disrupt the crew rotation schedule, flying the Crew 8 Dragon up with only a single person aboard leaving two empty seats for the Boeing crew to return in, or can they send up a pair of seats in kit form to retro fit to the Crew 7 Dragon which would be returning soon anyway ?

Alternatively SpaceX may be able to mount an additional mission, or perhaps bump the Polaris Dawn mission to a later date and use that spacecraft for a rescue.

[MartG]

Even if they do manage to return it safely, Boeing will face a mountain of work to convince NASA it is safe to fly again

[MartG]

I wonder if it is possible to fly it back unmanned ?

That way if it does explode/burn up/smack into the desert at high speed at least it won't have killed anyone.

[MartG]

Petrus1983 said:

Any news about the astronauts who aren't stuck in space? Another week of silence?

I'm not being lazy - I've seen this press conference happened -

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-boeing-prov...

But not an update from it.

Edited by Petrus1983 on Tuesday 9th July 12:24

Given the conference is scheduled for tomorrow, I'm not surprised at the lack of updates from it

[MartG]

FMOB said:

You do wonder if the Boeing programme will recover from this, will it be NASA or Boeing who put this programme out of its misery?

With Boeing's current financial issues, there's a chance they will grab any opportunity to cut costs - I don't know what penalties would be involved with them cancelling the contract with NASA, but probably cheaper than continuing to sink money into Starliner. They'd also be able to 'sell' the Atlas Vs they have reserved for it.

Edited by MartG on Thursday 8th August 13:50

[MartG]

More bad news about Boeing

https://www.space.com/nasa-oig-report-space-launch...

"largely due to the lack of a sufficient number of trained and experienced aerospace workers at Boeing." - because the accountants now running the company got rid of all the experienced angineers and hired inexperienced ( but cheaper ) people instead :/

Edited by MartG on Tuesday 13th August 12:43

[MartG]

Maybe they've fpound an alternative to return the astronauts

https://theonion.com/stranded-nasa-astronauts-take...

[MartG]

Now the decision has been made that the Boeing crew will return on Dragon, will NASA insist on a fully successful manned test flight before accepting Starliner is safe ? Of course a lot depends if the demanned Starliner lands safely.

If they do insist on another manned test flight, then apart from costing Boeing yet more money, it gives them an issue with the number of Atlas Vs available. Boeing currently have six Atlas Vs reserved for Starliner for their contracted 'operational' flights, but an additional test flight would leave them one short as all remaining Atlas Vs have missions assigned..

Boeing has previously stated that they would not man-rate Vulcan at their cost, which leaves 3 options that I can see:

1. NASA pays to man-rate Vulcan
2. Boeing defaults on their contract
3. Boeing negotiates with ViaSat or KuiperSpace to swap one of their payloads from Atlas V onto Vulcan, to free up an Atlas V

[MartG]

xeny said:

One other issue is that depending on when ISS is de-orbited and how long it takes to resolve the issue, there may not be time to fly the 6 contracted flights.

True

Then comes the question whether NASA simply pays for the flights they do manage to complete, or if Boeing decide to cut their losses and withdraw from the contract, paying any termination penalties.

[MartG]