Astronauts stranded, multiple issues w Starliner – return flight window closing | Hacker News Reader

Astronauts stranded, multiple issues w Starliner – return flight window closing

livescience.com

45 pointsbookofjoe37 comments

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That is a heck of a clickbait headline. This is a more informative article for folks who are interested:

https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/how-boeings-starlin...

This is the first time I felt a reality in space travel became closer to "For All Mankind".

What’s the option if Starliner is not cleared for return? Elon to the rescue?

Are the Russian Soyuz still being used as ISS-taxis?

Yes: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Russian_human_spacef... Apparently they continuously keep at least one docked there as well as an escape pod.

That will just Elongate the process

Starliner is currently cleared to return. The astronauts are not stranded. Mission leadership has opted to extend the stay on the station because it is the best place to troubleshoot the issues they are having.

The best option I heard in the previous post on this topic was to bump two astronauts off of SpaceX's Crew-9 in August. Then Suni and Butch would stay up another 180 days and come down with Crew-9.

What's happened at Boeing is so remarkably systemic it really needs a book length detailed treatment. I hope one is coming.

The entire company seems to have been absolutely utterly gutted.

It’s the same for pretty much everything across the board: the “got mine” generation thinks they can take all the wealth and resources with them to the grave, leave us with the PFAS, climate change, gutted social safety net, destroyed companies, and the truth is they’ll be dead before the bill comes due.

"Got mine" generation is definitely part of it, but demanding N% returns from an economy that has GDP growth of (N/2)% (and a lot of that just paper wealth from the finance industry) is the more proximate cause.

It's not a generation, it's a type of person and a cultural attitude. The majority of older people own nothing and had no say in the running of the world.

>The majority of older people own nothing and had no say in the running of the world.

What's sad is many of those that got shafted will still defend what's happened.

Reagan carried 49 of 50 states in 1984. The vast majority of the problems we see today are rooted in Reaganism.

On the other side of the pond the same generation of voters gutted the UK under Thatcher, then sacrificed their children and grandchildren at the altar of Brexit.

The generation who destroyed the social safety their parents gave them is on the hook for this, even if the majority of them also get to enjoy the fruits of their decisions.

How much of this issue (specifically affecting the spaceflight project), if any, do you think was instigated from talent being lured away?

This one’s been on my wishlist for a bit:

Flying Blind: The 737 MAX Tragedy and the Fall of Boeing

> systemic

That's overselling it a bit. The Boeing Defense, Space, & Security company is owned by Boeing, but it's a separate organization with its own CEO. Maybe there are problems, but assuming they are the same problems that Boeing Commercial Airplanes has is a stretch.

This is a shit article.

Helium leak is in the trunk. They jettison that on return, so only way to debug is to stay at the station for a few a days. Well within parameters.

They are cleared to depart if an emergency.

No doubt, the statements involving timelines are confusingly presented. Departure has been delayed 3 times due to the helium leak testing, earliest they will leave is on June 26th and I think the dock can support the capsule there for 45 days or until July 28th.

They are relatively fine there if the window is missed, right?

Yes. Worst case, they will have to take a Dragon or Soyuz home.

taking a dragon or soyuz back may be the straw that breaks the camels back for starliner

rather kill the program than lose a couple of astronauts. my opinion, Boeing stockholders may feel differently.

Boeing seems to have a high risk tolerance when it comes to others lives

Can they do that if they have not received specific training on it?

ISS has gained a new module.

> "We've learned that our helium system is not performing as designed," Mark Nappi, Boeing's Starliner program manager, said

No, it is working exactly as designed, and the design sucks.

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