Disaster Boeing Starliner crewed test flight delayed indefinitely

May 22 (UPI) -- Boeing's Starliner manned Crew Flight test has been indefinitely delayed after a string of issues, NASA officials said.

The launch has been scheduled for no earlier than Saturday, and no new date has been announced.

"The team has been in meetings for two consecutive days, assessing flight rationale, system performance and redundancy. There is still forward work in these areas, and the next possible launch opportunity is still being discussed," NASA, Boeing and United Launch Alliance said in a statement.

The original May 6 launch date to send a crew to the International Space Station was canceled, and subsequently the launch date was pushed back multiple times.

The Starliner has experienced several different issues that delayed the launches, including a problem with a pressure valve on the Centaur upper stage oxygen tank and a small helium leak in the spacecraft service module.

Florida Tech's Don Platt, an associate professor in the College of Engineering and Science, told WESH-Ch. 2 that with people onboard, the launch team is being extra careful.

"I think that if a satellite was onboard this rocket, it might be in orbit right now. But there's no reason to make bad choices and risk anything on a test flight that has some level of risk associated with it," he said.

Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been in quarantine through these launch delays. They returned to Houston on May 10 to spend more time with their families as the prelaunch procedures continue.

Starliner failed to reach the space station in 2019 after a software issue that put the spacecraft in the wrong orbit. Another uncrewed flight in 2022 made it after dealing with dozens of issues.

Starliner's Crew Flight Test mission to the space station is developmental, and NASA and Boeing officials have said safety is emphasized over launch schedules.

https://www.upi.com/Science_News/20...er-launch-delayed-indefinitely/9461716392236/ (Archive)

 

[The Mass Shooter Ron Soye]

BTW, the previous three test launches were never intended to reach orbit. That way if something went wrong, they knew for sure it was coming back down. Also they didn't "run out of fuel", you only put as much fuel onboard as you need.

Zyklon has reached a retarded conclusion like many retards who encounter SpaceX's "hardware rich" testing, but the integrated flight tests are intended to reach transatmospheric orbit, and IFT-2 did experience a "fuel" (actually oxidizer) issue due to having no payload:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_Starship_integrated_flight_test_2

In January 2024, SpaceX said that because Starship carried no payload, they planned to vent excess liquid oxygen from the second stage near the end of the burn. The venting of that oxygen led to a fire and explosion. Elon Musk echoed the assessment, writing: "Flight 2 actually almost made it to orbit ... If it had a payload, it would have made it to orbit because the reason that it actually didn’t quite make it to orbit was we vented the liquid oxygen."

 

[The Connected Nose]

Zyklon has reached a retarded conclusion like many retards who encounter SpaceX's "hardware rich" testing, but the integrated flight tests are intended to reach transatmospheric orbit, and IFT-2 did experience a "fuel" (actually oxidizer) issue due to having no payload:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_Starship_integrated_flight_test_2

TAO is basically a glorified ballistic trajectory. They said several times in the IFT-3 broadcast that the goal was orbital velocity, but not orbital trajectory. So basically throwing the ball higher, but not farther.

And let's not forget Elon likes to hyperbolize and make wildly optimistic statements (like IFT-4 being possible within a few weeks). IFT-2 was likely capable of reaching orbit if not for the venting and fire, but that doesn't mean they were aiming for orbit.

Yes SpaceX reinvented the rocket using a fuckton of VC money. Good for them. They also experimented on self landing boosters in the 70's and discarded the idea since it means you have to waste money and weight carrying useless fuel.
I am not happy with this situation, the negative feedback that will shock the system as SpaceX continuously falls on its ass failing to deliver on its Artemis responsibilities will likely cause another major cool off on space exploration.

Guess it's so completely useless that several boosters have been re-used 15-20 times eh?

Smarter people than you have run the numbers and determined they can offer LEO launches where the booster comes back to be re-used for less money than other competitors, and that's including the "useless fuel." But if you need more performance, they're more than happy to let you use up a booster just for yourself, and it's still less expensive than, say buying a launch from ULA.

As for Artemis, NASA itself is continually falling on its ass with wildly over-optimistic timelines, retarded mission profiles, and diversity uber alles crew requirements. They're the ones that picked the Starship HLS design, because out of the other submissions it's the only design that met the performance and payload requirements. But what matters is that the mission profile itself is absolute bullshit, designed to throw as much money around to as many companies as possible. There's no need to have a small capsule take the crew to lunar orbit, dock with a fucking space station in lunar orbit, then transfer to a much larger ship to land on the moon. Especially in a lunar orbit where it takes a WEEK to get back to an inclination that matches the station. If they really want to still give Boeing or Lockheed a crew launch contract, have them sent up to a waiting ship that's already been fueled and ready to go. There's enough performance there to get it to the moon, land, and get back already, so why the extra step of a useless "gateway" station near the moon.

You sure you're not thunderf00t with a constant hate-boner for SpaceX? I seem to remember his "deboonking" of Dragon saying that "it wasn't man-rated." Except this came after they'd already used it to launch people, and NASA would never have allowed it if it wasn't man-rated, as the fallout from that if something went wrong would have ended the entire agency.

 

[Zyklon Ben's Poison Pen]

Yes of course the usual playbook, "They totally meant to do that", "You are too retarded to understand", "They are only pretending to be retarded.", "SpaceX never lies"

As for Artemis, NASA itself is continually falling on its ass with wildly over-optimistic timelines, retarded mission profiles, and diversity uber alles crew requirements.

Totally agree, Artemis looks like its designed to fail or was just never really taken that seriously. Its starting to look like a boondoggle.

As for the rest of your "arguments".

 

[pikachudidnothingwrong]

Much better to be safe than to be sorry with this shit.. At least until there is more experience with it.

 

[Betonhaus]

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/boeing-starliner-spacecraft-plagued-with-issues-a-5th-helium-leak-found/ar-BB1oaZH6

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/nasa-clarifies-no-emergency-aboard-iss-after-simulation-drill-accidentally-broadcast/ar-BB1oaSJM

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/technology/nasa-calls-off-spacewalk-at-international-space-station-due-to-spacesuit-discomfort/ar-BB1oafZK

https://www.space.com/boeing-starliner-astronaut-spacesuit-fashion-safety

https://www.popsci.com/science/nasa-false-alarm/

From what I gather Starliner Commander Barry Wilmore may have had a malfunction with the brand new boeing-made spacesuits that has caused severe decompression sickness and so he is in critical condition, and that fact is currently being covered up because such a highly prominent fatality would kill the Boeing spaceship project.

 

[Ghost of Biden]

Can someone please tell me how much money has been thrown away so far?

 

[Betonhaus]

Can someone please tell me how much money has been thrown away so far?

are you sure you want to know?

 

[Ghost of Biden]

are you sure you want to know?

I’m sure it’s saving the economy

 

[Betonhaus]

Putting together the pieces it seems that the crew had some concerns about the safety of the brand new Boeing designed spacesuits, and so Butch elected to do a unpublished trial run before the scheduled spacewalk the morning after. I believe the test would involve getting kitted up and standing in the airlock while pressure was reduced, as actually leaving the ISS without public knowledge would be difficult and bad. Emergency airlock pressurization should take 30-45 minutes, meaning that the leak would've happened with little warning and be fast enough that the commander suffered from severe decompression injuries before the airlock pressurized. Based on the leaked audio they had tried putting him in his suit in a pure oxygen environment to help, but he has severe brain damage and is in a coma. They considered sending him to a hospital in Spain but the shuttle to earth hasn't been dispatched yet. That could mean that he's stable enough that they can treat him there, or more likely that he has passed and there is no point in making an unscheduled trip.

I’m sure it’s saving the economy

Economy has been redefined to mean "shareholder's pockets"

 

[Betonhaus]

https://www.mk.ru/science/2024/06/13/nasa-obyasnilo-trevozhnuyu-situaciyu-s-chlenom-ekipazha-mks-v-krayne-tyazhelom-sostoyanii.html

I found this line, which is interesting:

"I am concerned that there are several serious cases of decompression sickness... Unfortunately, the prognosis for the commander is relatively weak," said an unnamed flight doctor.

which is concerning. If I try to fit this into my existing narrative, it could mean that they opened the airlock before it finished pressurizing which injured everyone in the hab unit - something that would've been the result of someone panicking and unable to wait the 40ish minutes for the airlock to pressurize. That could've been someone who couldn't bear to see Butch dying in front of them, or Butch himself overriding the airlock door in a panic. That could help explain why the incident was hidden, as having several astronauts with burst eardrums is now a sensational international incident - especially if a Russian or Chinese national was involved or injured.

https://www.youtube.com/live/SNjeCngOoa8

there is a live feed with radio comms traffic, but there is very little comms traffic playing. not sure if that's a concern or not

 

[Ghost of Biden]

https://www.mk.ru/science/2024/06/13/nasa-obyasnilo-trevozhnuyu-situaciyu-s-chlenom-ekipazha-mks-v-krayne-tyazhelom-sostoyanii.html

I found this line, which is interesting:

which is concerning. If I try to fit this into my existing narrative, it could mean that they opened the airlock before it finished pressurizing which injured everyone in the hab unit - something that would've been the result of someone panicking and unable to wait the 40ish minutes for the airlock to pressurize. That could've been someone who couldn't bear to see Butch dying in front of them, or Butch himself overriding the airlock door in a panic. That could help explain why the incident was hidden, as having several astronauts with burst eardrums is now a sensational international incident - especially if a Russian or Chinese national was involved or injured.

Killing everyone on board seems like the based thing to do. Is Butch a based man?

 

[Betonhaus]

Killing everyone on board seems like the based thing to do. Is Butch a based man?

I think it's more a matter that the airlock doesn't have a system to prevent the inside door from being opened when the airlock isn't fully pressurized, and when Butch's suit started to depressurize quickly he panicked and forced the door open when the pressure differential was enough to injure the people inside the pressurized habitat.

 

[Betonhaus]

https://www.ibtimes.sg/stranded-spa...crisis-leaves-nasa-astronauts-stuck-iss-75018 https://archive.is/wip/Gdc0N

Somehow I fully expect it to burn up on re-entry. I just don't know if they will try flying it down or dispose of it.

 

[Sithis]

View attachment 6117435
https://www.ibtimes.sg/stranded-spa...crisis-leaves-nasa-astronauts-stuck-iss-75018 https://archive.is/wip/Gdc0N

Somehow I fully expect it to burn up on re-entry. I just don't know if they will try flying it down or dispose of it.

The worst part is they could make it back safely on one of the Russian capsules and probably fare alright on SpaceX, but the current regime cannot afford that level of embarrassment in an election year, so these guys will get to take their chances with DEI Boeing.

 

[Betonhaus]

The worst part is they could make it back safely on one of the Russian capsules and probably fare alright on SpaceX, but the current regime cannot afford that level of embarrassment in an election year, so these guys will get to take their chances with DEI Boeing.

is there enough food and oxygen for having unexpected long term guests indefinitely? how long will it be until they decide to fly down?

 

[Sithis]

is there enough food and oxygen for having unexpected long term guests indefinitely? how long will it be until they decide to fly down?

Probably not enough for like a year stay but I imagine there'd be enough "emergency rations" up there for a month or so just in case something like this goes on. But every added body on that thing adds to the waste they have to deal with and is an extra mouth to feed. Iirc they purify and drink their own pee or something weird so they should be fine for water.

 

[WelperHelper99]

Probably not enough for like a year stay but I imagine there'd be enough "emergency rations" up there for a month or so just in case something like this goes on. But every added body on that thing adds to the waste they have to deal with and is an extra mouth to feed. Iirc they purify and drink their own pee or something weird so they should be fine for water.

I did read that worst case they'll send up a SpaceX capsule to bring them down. In August. Whatever happens, it's going to be a rough ride.

 

[Peaches the Wonder Cat]

The most optimistic scenario for the astronauts is if Boeing decided to reenact the plot of Capricorn One.

 

[Betonhaus]

I did read that worst case they'll send up a SpaceX capsule to bring them down. In August. Whatever happens, it's going to be a rough ride.

If they really want to avoid that embarrassment, they will probably try to force the last available window to return to earth, and use so much pressure to declare the ship space worthy that the technicians have no choice but to lie.

 

[RodgerDodger]

Right now it's safe to assume NASA and Boeing are worried about a return disaster. But are equally worried about the optics of having the first Boeing crew have to wait around for an Elon Musk Uber pickup.

And they are trapped in a loop of indecision. Nobody wants to step up and make the call regarding the cursed space craft.

What has to be both embarasing and worrying to Boeing is the initial SpaceX test flights went off almost like clockwork. Other than some weather and minor typical launch delays.

What is equally worrying is none of the problems NASA has described, the helium leaks or the thruster should be enough to delay or scrub the return mission. Yet they keep delaying. Why?