NASA decides to keep 2 astronauts in space until February, nixes return on troubled Boeing capsule

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11mo ago

NASA decides to keep 2 astronauts in space until February, nixes return on troubled Boeing capsule

apnews.com /article/boeing-spacex-nasa-astronauts-starliner-e4e81e5a6c23dee2f8f72260ddea011c

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11mo ago

NASA decides to keep 2 astronauts in space until February, nixes return on troubled Boeing capsule

apnews.com /article/boeing-spacex-nasa-astronauts-starliner-e4e81e5a6c23dee2f8f72260ddea011c

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11mo ago

NASA decides to keep 2 astronauts in space until February, nixes return on troubled Boeing capsule

apnews.com /article/boeing-spacex-nasa-astronauts-starliner-e4e81e5a6c23dee2f8f72260ddea011c

36 comments

Honestly... who would dare to risk reentry in that piece of shit.
- NASA update a few weeks back said all 27 thrusters passed multiple hot fire simulations of the return mission. That overall things looked fine. And they still felt safety factor of riding home on Dragon was better.
  Kinda neat that there are multiple options now. NASA mission leaders felt the same a while back. Even if Starliner seems fine to come home why take even that slight bit of risk.
  
  This is not what I've read.
  Boeing engineers tested the thrusters and managed to replicate the issue. They found that there issue was caused by a bulging of a Teflon valve.
  However they don't understand the root cause of why the Teflon is bulging.
  So Boeing said it's safe for the astronauts to return on Starliner but they also said that they fixed the thruster issues they had on the previous flight.
  Not all NASA is confident that the Starliner is safe enough.
- Yeah, but in the flip side, an 8 day trip turning into a 9 month trip....I'd be so fucking bored!
  
  I’d be so fucking bored
  You'd be on the fcking space station. I doubt that easily gets boring, especially if you're an astronaut :)
- who would dare to risk reentry in that piece of shit.
  Keyboard warriors of the internet.
  I saw comments mentioning how it was a minor annoyance and they'd be back home in the same craft same week or something close.
  Kids, this is why you take anything from the internet with healthy dose of skepticism.
  
  Listening to NASA’s official press releases isn’t exactly what I’d call being a keyboard warrior. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using the most authoritative source as your primary world view, in most cases.
Fingers crossed for the Boeing capsule to safely complete reentry, straight into the CEO's office 🤞🤞
I feel bad for Nick Hague and Stephanie Wilson, the two SpaceX Crew 9 crew members who were bumped to make room for the returning Boeing crew.
EDIT: Looks like there’s some disagreement in NASA as to which American gets the commander’s seat, see below.
- Oh, have they confirmed the revised crew members for Crew-9? I must have missed that.
  
  That’s what I was reading on Wikipedia at the time, it’s since been changed to commander TBD. Aleksandr Gorbunov is unbumpable, as he’s flying through the seat swap agreement between NASA and Roscosmos, so he’s been moved from mission specialist to pilot. Ars is reporting that they’ve heard that original commander Zena Cardman has retained her seat, but I guess it isn’t official and there’s some concern with some at NASA that neither Cardman nor Gorbunnov have flown in space before. NASA hasn’t flown an all-rookie flight since Skylab 4, the last crew to visit that station.
- Can't believe Elon is still running SpaceX.
  I assume all the leaders and top engineers at SpaceX would come to meetings, listen to Elon rambling nonsense for an hour, said "sure boss, that sounds great" then went to the "real" meeting without Elon all the way across the facility to get shits done.
  
  More or less. Of all Elon's companies, SpaceX seems to have the most robust strategies for managing the boss.
Clear headline. 👍
No “StUcK iN sPaCE.”
It’s quite a thing that they are up there for so long “due to Boeing.” Though. But that’s some exhausted discourse. Whew.
- They are certainly there with no means to return until February, which they will do on a different company's capsule, from a mission that was supposed to last 8 days and instead will last 8 months. That sounds like stuck to me.
  Whose fault is it, if not Boeing's?
  
  Maybe I'm just a jelly earthbound dude but having my space trip extended from 8 days to 8 months? Fuck yeah. I would LOVE the chance to be in space long enough to get bored of being in space.
  Problems caused by being in space for too long? I'd be grateful to have them.
  Risk my life just to leave the atmosphere and possibly die in space because it's hard at so damn dangerous to humans? Sign. Me. The. Fuck. Up.
  I'm sure they kiss their families but man am I envious.
- Well, technically they're stuck, because I don't think there's enough seats to get everyone home without the Boeing capsule, until a SpaceX one arrives in 6 months.
  
  Yes, there's currently more crew than seats if you exclude the Starliner. In an emergency, I'm sure they could strap Wilmore and Williams into the Crew Dragon and/or Soyuz MS capsules somewhere, if they really had to. NASA likes to run every possible scenario, so I'm sure they already have a contingency plan for that.
  Assuming they don't want to use the Starliner capsule for some reason. I haven't heard of any actual risk with using it.
  Edit: I decided to actually read the article. They'd squeeze them into the Crew Dragon if they had to. And the problem with the Starliner isn't just helium leaks like I'd heard, it's also thruster seals swelling and blocking their own propellant. Thrusters are kind of important for attitude control.
  
  Their backup plan is to have the extra 2 astronauts lie on the floor of the Crew Dragon and reenter without suits. Yep. That's still safer than Starliner.
  
  until a SpaceX one arrives in 6 months
  Quick correction, the SpaceX Crew-9 is scheduled to depart in 6 months. It will arrive (with two empty seats) in September. So Suni and Butch will only be "stuck" for the few days between when Starliner undocks and when the Crew-9 capsule arrives.
Boeing is going to undock and try to land uncrewed in Sept.
SpaceX is going to send up their next mission with two empty seats for a February return of the stuck astronauts.
In an emergency, the current SpaceX capsule could theoretically bring back the two stranded astronauts, but that's not a realistic solution for anything short of a disaster.
- Just imagine if it really craps out and doesn't make it, thankfully without anyone inside... but still...
  
  Will probably perform just fine. NASA update a couple weeks back covered results for multiple test firings of the thrusters to solve what was going on during approach. They all worked fine. Some at only 2-3% off peak performance window versus the 20% off that had been measured. So whatever tinkering had been going on seemed to have worked.
  One curiosity they'll never be sure on was if seals were truly restricting fuel flow. That potentially the long wait time from stacking everything to launch caused swelling. And now in space that swelling has gone down which is why fuel flow has been fine. But the thruster module they would need to inspect gets left in space before re-entry. So we'll never know for sure.

36 comments