Boeing sent two astronauts into space, now it needs to get them home

https://www.wsj.com/science/space-astronomy/boeing-sent-two-astronauts-into-space-now-it-needs-to-get-them-home-99d96633

by JumpCrisscross • 2 years ago

68 17 2 years ago

wsj.com

drpossum• 2 years ago

https://archive.fo/SgCxt

Dalewyn• 2 years ago

Let's hope cooler heads prevail and Starliner gets sent down empty while a Dragon (or god forbid, a Soyuz) goes up to fetch the two astronauts.

We seriously don't need a repeat of Columbia, much less for the sake of some corporation's pride rather than a premier space agency's.

avmich• 2 years ago

I wonder if such an evacuation happens what would subsequent relations between NASA and Boeing be. NASA could be rather sensitive to the optics of the events like that...

madaxe_again• 2 years ago

Likely no change. NASA contract with Boeing because it is politically useful, and will continue to do so as long as Boeing exists, regardless of outcomes, as it will continue to be politically useful. Boeing sponsor a great many politicians to ensure this.

hoseja• 2 years ago

It would be so funny if they had to evacuate on a Dragon.

mainecoder• 2 years ago

It would be on a Dragon Capsule the Starliner is not just having helium problems, it has functional problems that compromise the return to earth mission they are trying to resolve(...I mean manage what this really means NASA has already contacted spaceX) it an announcement will be made tomorrow.

JKCalhoun2• 2 years ago

I was thinking about the problems Boeing is having now compared to what problems may have been "in the moment" back when NASA and partners were developing Apollo — problems that are all but forgotten since the climax of the work was of such import.

Obviously the Apollo I fire is not forgotten although I was older before I learned about it — older of course than when I learned that astronauts had walked on the Moon.

YouTube has a trove of "quarterly reports" (and even older material — Manned Spaceflight Reports, for example) that apparently were created as a means of tracking progress and/or setbacks (and money spent?) on the space missions.

As a space nerd since I was quite young, I find these reports somewhat fascinating. (They make interesting "filler material" for my TV app that plays content every day on my home "channel".)

I can't point to a specific report but do recall the odd one talking about a tank rupturing on a pressure test or an engine test-stand being destroyed during an engine run-up.

They paint a picture of a fascinating time when the work was brisk and well-funded — whole facilities being developed, concrete poured, barges built - for this singular goal of ... well, showing up the Soviet Union, I guess.

Some playlists I found (they may not be complete) when quickly searching this morning:

Lots of reports here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDwzqZWIrfza3pcILatnC...

Saturn V Quarterly Reports: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbEPfQne9a3zPJRdBb-HA...

Saturn I/IB Quarterly Reports: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiXem4nUKgcEgQXmr0zy6...

euroderf• 2 years ago

Obviously the Apollo I fire is not forgotten

Apollo NASA is a main suspect here. I recall reading that long before the fire, NASA had seen that even asbestos burns in a pure oxygen environment. So there were grounds for concern and for engineering investigation.

JKCalhoun2• 2 years ago

Not to go down the rabbit hole of assigning blame, but the gains from a pure oxygen environment were of course substantially reduced vehicle pressure. Mercury and Gemini both had used pure oxygen environments with obviously no mishaps.

nottorp• 2 years ago

Now It Needs to Get Them Home

Alive, ideally. Those people who went up in that capsule were extremely brave.

SillyUsername• 2 years ago

Somebody quipped wouldn't it be funny to return them on a Dragon.

Embarrassing as that is another alternative is Roscosmos if the Dragon is unavailable (i.e. it's required for emergency use).

Asking the Russians would cause national embarrassment so my money's on the former, but this may actually be a case of politics getting in the way, as, had this been 5 years ago the Russians would have been the go-to partners, they still could be if NASA truly followed realpolitik.

Or as the saying goes "cutting your nose off to spite your face" (using a docked Dragon puts those on the station at more risk than just sending up a new Russian Soyuz).

Tldr; This means astronauts may now be at an additional risk because of (inter)national politics.

AdamN• 2 years ago

They're already following realpolitik by keeping coordination between the two countries active.

The problem with Soyuz is that you no longer have a usable escape plan up on the ISS once it's used so it should only be used in a true emergency. If the Boeing module really was bad, better to send up a Dragon and send the Boeing module down unmanned than to use Soyuz.

ginko• 2 years ago

I wonder how long SpaceX would take to send up another Dragon on short notice.

drcongo• 2 years ago

You really have to be made of the right stuff to go to space in something built by Boeing.

dotBen• 2 years ago

Yes including commercial airspace these days...

aetherson• 2 years ago

If you were an astronaut and your mission was scheduled to use Starliner instead of Dragon, would you think:

a. Mission control doesn't care if I live or die

b. Mission control is actively trying to kill me

Boeing sent two astronauts into space, now it needs to get them home

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