Posted on 03/09/2025 8:24:54 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
In June of 2024, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams flew to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard Boeing’s Starliner. This was unfortunate, but unlike some of Boeing’s atmospheric products, not quite deadly. The Starliner developed thruster problems, which is a bad thing for a spacecraft that must precisely align itself with the ISS. Somehow, they made it to the relative safety of the aging ISS for what was supposed to be an eight to ten day stay.
Equally unfortunately, NASA couldn’t figure out what was wrong with the grandiosely named Starliner’s thrusters and wisely decided it might not be such a good idea to send Butch and Suni back in a ship they weren’t sure wouldn’t provide spectacular media visuals as it burned up on reentry, so they were—and I use the commonly understood term—stranded in space with no way to get back until NASA could figure out what was wrong with the Starliner and scrape up another rocket, which they couldn’t do—either of those things.
The Starliner made it back more or less intact and Boeing apparently still can’t figure out what went wrong. In the meantime, NASA and Joe Biden’s handlers spent a great deal of energy explaining to Americans that Butch and Suni weren’t stranded in space, and how dare you even think such a thing? But we don’t have any way of bringing them back, do we? Americans asked. Shut up, Biden’s handlers and NASA explained.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
“ The latest news is that during a video press conference this week, a Washington Post reporter asked the "stranded" astronauts, "Elon Musk has said that he made the offer to bring you guys back earlier and that it was denied… Is that true?” Butch replied, "I can only say that what Elon Musk says is absolutely factual," but he also admitted that "I don't know all those details, and I don't think any of us really can give you the answer that maybe that you would be hoping for." This week, Musk reiterated his claim, saying, "SpaceX could have sent up another Dragon and brought them home 6 months ago, but the Biden White House (not NASA) refused to allow it.” On the flipside, Butch said in that same orbital presser, "From my standpoint, politics is not playing into this at all."
Elon Musk is working on bringing both home soon, and The Daily Mail, doing the work American journalists won’t do, adds detail. See here:
[EXCERPT]
During a Friday appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience, Musk said the Biden administration did not want to jeopardize Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign and intentionally ‘pushed the return date past the inauguration date.’
[END EXCERPT]
So. Elon Musk has affirmed several times that during the Biden’s handler’s Administration he offered to bring Butch and Suni back much earlier. They refused because they didn’t want Musk, who was supporting Trump, to make Biden’s handlers, who would have been Kamala Harris’ handlers, look bad. Of course, that didn’t really matter, because they weren’t stranded in space, they were just…shut up.
Is Starliner a model name or the name of the specific craft? I was thinking they could name that unit “The SS Minnow”.
“Elon Musk has affirmed several times that during the Biden’s handler’s Administration he offered to bring Butch and Suni back much earlier. They refused because they didn’t want Musk, who was supporting Trump, to make Biden’s handlers, who would have been Kamala Harris’ handlers, look bad.”
And in an interview just the other day astronaut Wilmore confirmed he believes the same basically saying what Elon said is accurate.
What exactly is being alleged? That these two have in fact already been brought safely home? They were never there in the first place? I’ve seen other stories pointing out that their on-air weightlessness is faked, that they were in fact brought home but seriously ill, etc. What’s the deal?
It is so sad to see what liberals have done to NASA and Boeing. In Boeing’s case, it’s also the influx of incompetence from McDonnell-Douglas.
Two sources of excellence long ago, now incompetent shells of their former self.
First crew gets rights to name the ships. Sunita named this one “Calypso”
The astronauts are not stranded in space........ they are marooned on the ISS.
Long John Silver of Robert Lewis
Stevensen’s Treasure Island fame, taught us that being marooned is no fun
Think of all the overtime that these two are racking up with their overstay in space.
Our “leaders” in congress pretty much destroyed the “clearly leading role” Kennedy and others envisioned for the space program. The problem with the thrusters is not new. They had exactly the same trouble in 1964 as they did in 2024 - swelling of teflon seals due to overheating, causing obstructions in the flow. Verbatim. I discovered this (can’t be the only one) going over the JSC Oral History project notes. One interview was with a Marquardt engineer who worked the thruster issue they had 60 years ago. I wonder, did Boeing even talk to this guy?
Curious that you don’t do these for uke threads. /s
See Post #10
Things can go woefully wrong, and people can and have died, when they’re done to gain political points. Case in point, the pullout from Afghanistan in 2021.
Doing things for the benefit of the whole country is out of the question when it’s more important to the politicians in charge to try to gain political advantage from whatever the events are.
If the elastomers won't handle it (i.e., the demand is beyond any material capability), one would think redundant thrusters would be a workable solution: Run one set while the others cool. What's so hard or unacceptable about that?
Curious that you (under any of your many nicks) think I have any interest in any of your spam and trolling.
They will probably get billed for food and lodging.
Under Biden, NASA was too busy with Moslem outreach to rescue these 2 poor bastards.
Weight limits.
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