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Comment by marklar423 | Hacker News Reader

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marklar423·

It appears to me there's probably a "best of both worlds" compromise:

1. Send the astronauts home on Dragon

2. Certify Starliner for human flight if it can make it home safely (uncrewed)

If the capsule can make it down, it doesn't matter if there were people in it or not, right?

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They cannot do it at the moment, as Boeing has removed the software support for flying Starliner uncrewed from this specific craft, even though it has already completed a mission without humans onboard already. And we’ve only learned about it after Starliner was stuck docked to ISS

Is there a mechanism for updating the Starliner software while it's docked at the ISS?

Put a microSD with the firmware update in the slot for the navigation system card. Then restart the system and hold down the "Play" button while restarting until the screen turns blue. System may reboot several times afterwards, when everything is done, the system will startup as usual.

Presumably, yes. But making such major alterations to the flight software might be considered an unacceptable risk to the ISS.

Yes, and in the story it talks about how that updating is what would cause the longest delays in getting Starliner off ISS if they go that route. So yes, it’s possible.

NASA already clarified this is not correct, only software parameters need to be modified not the software

Interesting, I haven’t seen this news. Would you happen to have a link?

This is in the story:

* It will also take time for NASA and Boeing to update parameters in Starliner's flight software to enable an unpiloted undocking and reentry.*

It’s apparently a file called the “Mission Data Load” (MDL).

Thank you for pointing this out

The point of certification isn't and shouldn't be "happened to be successful once"

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