Interesting that this did not make HN at all before the launch. There are way more cheerleaders for SpaceX than Boeing. But IMO it's still very cool, I could watch rocket launches all day.
On top of that Boeing's launch coverage is nowhere near as fancy as SpaceX (or new space in general, RocketLab and Blue Origin also tend to have pretty decent coverage, although neither of them are doing crewed orbital spaceflight yet). No views of the non-flight-control employees enjoying seeing their work fly, very little live telemetry, low resolution for when they do have live video, mostly CGI views once down to the second stage, no live views from the capsule in space either.
Finally, on top of that, Starliner is kind of just a dead end in its current state. Boeing only built the two it needs for this one contract, and it only flies on Atlas V, which are fully sold out now. So it can only do the 6 contracted ISS missions and then it's done until someone is willing to pay to have Starliner+Vulcan Centaur crew rated.
This is what I like about SpaceX. Of course they have government contracts, but it's always building towards something bigger.
"Although it was originally planned for a 2017 launch,[15] various delays pushed the launch back to no earlier than July 2023.[47] Then on June 1, 2023, Boeing announced the flight was indefinitely delayed, due to problems with the parachute harness and flammable tape on wiring.[105] On August 7, 2023, Boeing announced that it was resuming preparations for a launch, and that it hoped to resolve the issue with the flammable tape by September 2023, and to address the parachute harness issues by November 2023.
The Crewed Flight Test was tentatively scheduled for a launch date of May 6, 2024,[106] but due to a problem with an oxygen valve on the ULA Atlas rocket, the May 6 launch date was cancelled approximately two hours before the planned launch time.[107] The launch has been further delayed due to a helium leak in the Starliner service module, which was originally discovered during the May 6 launch attempt.[108][109]
A launch was attempted on June 1, 2024, for 16:25 UTC (12:25 PM EDT), but was aborted at 3 minutes and 50 seconds prior to liftoff. Starliner successfully completed countdown and lifted off on June 5, 2024 at 14:52 UTC (10:52 AM EDT)."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Starliner#Third_orbital...
Also 30 days ago.
I only knew it was launching 6 minutes prior because my partner alerted me about it because it was top stream on twitch.
I did not, either. I tend to get most of my tech-related news via HN. Fortunately this morning I decided to swing past Ars to see if anything interesting was happening, and they had a high profile post about the launch. I made it to the livestream with less than five minutes to spare.
Does the Starliner have any feature that current SpaceX rockets don't have?
Here's a pic of the Starliner control panel: https://x.com/TrevorMahlmann/status/1207437431374565376/phot...
And Crew Dragon's control panel: https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/30/21275753/nasa-spacex-astr...
Edit: for those wondering, this is not hearsay or speculation; it is from direct experience (albeit 5+ years ago)
But the controls themselves have physical buttons in addition to the touch screen.
Also all systems have triple redundancy.
Interesting, why would they want that capability?
All Russian space vehicles land on land because they don’t have easy access to warm waters and Kazakhstan steppe is big and empty.
But why boeing/nasa would want that?
Dragon was also initially intending to land on solid ground, but dropped the idea when NASA asked for additional tests to prove that popping landing legs out of the heat shield would be safe. SpaceX had intended such landings in large part because of the plans for Red Dragon, but since by then they had started to shift towards Starship, they deemed it easier to just splashdown and deal with the extra refurbishment than try to prove out a technology they no longer felt the need for.
Additionally, I know when the first Crew Dragon landed, it clearly wasn't hard or expensive to get to given that there were a bunch of small, private boats that (inappropriately) approached the spacecraft. It was quite close to shore, not like the old Apollo missions landing in the middle of the Atlantic or Pacific.
Plus, since it's supposed to fly autonomously, there isn't a lot of physical control to be done. This isn't like with cars where there's an argument that tactile controls are easier to adjust without looking away from the road.
The station can also boost itself with the Zvezda module, which has thrusters.
https://www.nasa.gov/international-space-station-frequently-...
We all see it as a huge national security issue that these companies are fumbling, given how foundational they are for U.S. security, self-reliance and tech leadership.
Plus, NASA crew rates the full stack rather than treating the rocket and capsule separately, so integrating Starliner on another rocket would require the crew rating process to be repeated (granted, it'd be a bit easier since F9+Dragon is already crew rated).