I have been absolutely amazed how this has been ignored in the news since we found out about the problems.
Times like these I really miss Space Coast Yancey with his insights.
Gamecock Fanatics
This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
NASA not bringing Boeing Starliner crew back until February
- Thread starter kingofnerf
- Start date
I have been absolutely amazed how this has been ignored in the news since we found out about the problems.
Times like these I really miss Space Coast Yancey with his insights.
The capsule returned home safely a week or so ago without the crew on board. In hindsight they could have come home with the capsule, but would have been risky. Crew will sty until Feb when another SpaceX mission will bring them home. This was a test flight and obviously have some things to work out. But a few things stand out:
- Boeing has some serious issues across the board. With the 8 MAx, doors falling off, and now this.
- Why was there no better back-up plan to get them home? Seems like they made it up as they went along.
- Why did NASA not make the 2 space Suites compatible between SpaceX and Boeing? The Boeing crew could not just get in a SpaceX wearing their Boeing Suites. Different technologies and connectors. So that is why they have to stay so long. They need to fly up 2 SpaceX suites, for the crew to be able to come home.
Our stranded astronauts are still up there in case people have forgotten about them.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmqj10O7F8A
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlfAqBA0j1w
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ahEXq6NeDY
The second one in a row. Elon needs to focus on fixing his exploding spaceships right now before a jetliner comes down instead of trying to dismantle the federal government.
JMO.
The second one in a row. Elon needs to focus on fixing his exploding spaceships right now before a jetliner comes down instead of trying to dismantle the federal government.
JMO.
FurmanCock
Grand Poohbah
Supposed to have been an 8 day stay. Did they go up on the U.S.S. Minnow?
Three different programs here and 2 different companies.
So the Astronauts went up on Boeing’s long delayed StarLiner spacecraft for its first crewed test flight. They had issues with the spacecraft while it was docked at the space station. Eventually they decided to fly the StarLiner back to earth without the crew as a precaution . It landed succefully.
The plan was to bring the astronauts back on competitor SpaceX crew dragon on a future flight. But there have been delays with that as well.
Meanwhile, SpaceX is testing its next generation Starship. Which is a much bigger rocket that will supposedly cary humans to Mars someday. These are the ones that have been exploding, raining fireballs into the Caribbean. This is not related to its crew dragon program, which fly on the very reliable Falcon 9 rockets.
Last edited:
"Elon: Please list 5 things you did last week to bring two stranded Starliner astronauts home or prepare to have your job terminated." Right.
I voted for Trump, but this logic applies to SpaceX as well. It's not political; Elon just needs to do his own job as well.
I voted for Trump, but this logic applies to SpaceX as well. It's not political; Elon just needs to do his own job as well.
Um...I'm not sure about that comparison.
We got them back, thank God.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOsIYwwbr78
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AslmKtsd8w
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjJO04bxcAU
The long term effects of weightlessness can be pretty bad.
www.theguardian.com
A national failure that should never happened and cannot be allowed to happen again.
The long term effects of weightlessness can be pretty bad.
Swollen eyeballs, baby-like skin, and the overview effect: how astronauts feel when they return to Earth
As Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams prepare to come home after their unexpected nine-month ISS stay, here is what they may experience
www.theguardian.com
A national failure that should never happened and cannot be allowed to happen again.
Both astronauts and cosmonauts routinely have been staying at the space station for longer periods for decades. That is not something new or unusual.We got them back, thank God.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOsIYwwbr78
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AslmKtsd8w
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjJO04bxcAU
The long term effects of weightlessness can be pretty bad.
Swollen eyeballs, baby-like skin, and the overview effect: how astronauts feel when they return to Earth
As Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams prepare to come home after their unexpected nine-month ISS stay, here is what they may experience
A national failure that should never happened and cannot be allowed to happen again.
Is it embarrassing and should not have happened, yes. Is it t a national failure? Meh. Is it a Boeing failure? Absolutely.
They were never in any danger. At least not any more than the rest of the ISS crew. But NASA does need to make sure they’re is a way to get the crew home. Any crew for that matter.
The root of the problem really was that the SpaceX spacesuites and the Boeing Spacesuites are not compatible / interchangeable. So the Astronauts went up in Boeing suits, and could not come back in the SpaceX capsule in the Boeing suites. Otherwise they could have hitched a ride back in an earlier mission. They had to wait on a new mission to fly up two SpaceX suites.
Last edited:
The last space shuttle mission was flown in July of 2011 by the shuttle Atlantis. Except for a few space tourism flights, Americans have used Russian rockets to get to the ISS before and since then.
Most people, including me, don't even know what their missions are about at this point. There was an ebb and flow to joint missions during the Cold War and after. Given what is going on with Russia right now, there's no good reason for Americans to be in space right now. It's all very tiresome to me at this point.
I believe we left two of the 4 crew members on the rescue mission up there, but no one is talking about that although it would be huge if SpaceX has picked up where NASA left off with manned space flight. Yancey's Space Coast take on things is sorely missed right now. He would have had a good take on things.
When decision was made to shut down the Space Shuttle program, NASA outsourced manned spaced light to the ISS to Boeing and SpaceX. SpaceX got their act together first and has been flying astronauts (Both American and international - including Russians) up to the ISS regularly since 2020. We did rely on the RussianSouyuz program from 2011 to 2020. SpaceX uses the CrewDragon program which flies on the Falcon 9 rockets. These flight have been going up several times per year with no issues.
Boeing had their first crewed test flight last year. It was a test flight and only was supposed to be for a few days. Which resulted in the current situation. They obviously have big issues with their program, much like their issues with civilian airplanes in recent years.
The whole narrative that these astronauts were ‘stranded in space’ is media click bait exaggeration. Yes the mission was way longer than planned. And they had to find another ride back to earth. But they were safe and sound on the ISS in the meantime. They could have brought them back much sooner if there was an emergency.
FurmanCock
Grand Poohbah
And that also opens them up for criticism. It is demonstrably apparent that SpaceX could have brought them home. I don't have the facts, so I don't know the reason the decision was made to not bring them home earlier. The reason NASA didn't bring them down may have been funding, no budget for an earlier return It may have been physically impossible -- no vehicle/rocket available. Was there a contractual issue for the return flight with Boeing? Maybe the astronauts wanted the space time -- may be their last opportunity for space time -- based on the interviews I've seen, this doesn't seem likely. I do know that they have been very charitable about not casting any blame for their prolonged trip (much more charitable than I would have been capable of).
But, there is also a claim that the delay in return was caused by politics, not wanting to utilize SpaceX. If there is any truth that politics entered into the return calculation (even by a tiny percentage) than that is truly shameful.
I believe NASA and Boeing felt it best to err to the side of caution on allowing the crew to run in their original spaceship, which would later return safely unmanned.
There were serious integrity issues that cause the original capsule to leak as I recall. Boeing has had too many safety issues of late, too, with their passenger jets.
I think the overall blame comes down like SA said to Boeing's design and quality control issues. I saw an article from 2010 or 2011 that spoke of how SpaceX would need 17 test flights of the Dragon 9 rockets to get to the point of regular manned space flights. Their obviously ready now, which has become hidden by the distractions on non-space-related things in current events.
The joint space program between us and Russia was the one thing that has so far survived the stress of the Ukrainian conflict. It proves us and Russia are capable of working together towards a common goal. That seems to be the most important space mission right now.
There were serious integrity issues that cause the original capsule to leak as I recall. Boeing has had too many safety issues of late, too, with their passenger jets.
I think the overall blame comes down like SA said to Boeing's design and quality control issues. I saw an article from 2010 or 2011 that spoke of how SpaceX would need 17 test flights of the Dragon 9 rockets to get to the point of regular manned space flights. Their obviously ready now, which has become hidden by the distractions on non-space-related things in current events.
The joint space program between us and Russia was the one thing that has so far survived the stress of the Ukrainian conflict. It proves us and Russia are capable of working together towards a common goal. That seems to be the most important space mission right now.
Yes. I heard that Boeing wanted to bring them back on the Starliner capsule, but they were overruled by NASA. And the capsule came back unnamed with no issues.
The plan was made last summer to bring them back on SpaceX. But there were severe delays there as well before the mission was ready. Including not having spare SpaceX suites available on the station.
The emergent plan for the ISS is always to have the space ship (Shuttle, Souyuz, crew dragon) docked that the astronauts flew up in ready to fly back. So in case the is a catastrophic event with the ISS, the crews would use their vehicles as escape pods. I think the emergency plan for the 2 was to rig up some space in the cargo are of the crewdragon if they had to come back in an emergency.
And I agree that the ISS has been a remarkable success, not just for space, but for international cooperation and diplomacy with the Russians. It proves that the US and Russia can work together to achieve something remarkable. And it’s great this relationship has held up with the current state of international politics. Too bad it’s slated to be de-orbited before the end of the decade.
The recent events in space make me think of that 2013 movie Gravity with Sandra Bullock. The first 20 minutes of that movie are just incredible. I didn't realize how long ago that movie was released. Damn, I'm old.
Correction - The CrewDragon 9 Capsule that brought the 2 astron
correction. CrewDargon 9. The mission they came back on, has been up at the ISS since September. They sent that one up with only 2 (instead of 4) astronauts, because that would be their spots to come home. So really they could have come back anytime since then if they needed to. They were never ‘stranded’.
These decision were made last year and was not political. It was for the safety and the logistics But since then we’ve had Elon running his mouth about how this was all a Biden political stunt. The plan has been to bring them back on Crew Dragon 9 since last summer, that plan was made by NASA and SpaceX and Boeing, well before Elon got to the White House.
But weren't they originally scheduled for only an 8 day mission? If so and you end up being there for 286 days I'd say you were indeed stranded. For the record I don't believe any of it was political.
The last manned American space mission was Apollo 18 in 1972 and then the space shuttle missions started in 1981.
The shots of that capsule coming down in the ocean underneath the big parachutes certainly brought back some memories for me. We need to start doing that again, but that's just me. Maybe add some Navy ships for a nice show of it all, but that's just me.
The shots of that capsule coming down in the ocean underneath the big parachutes certainly brought back some memories for me. We need to start doing that again, but that's just me. Maybe add some Navy ships for a nice show of it all, but that's just me.
Last edited: