Posted on 06/13/2024 1:04:16 PM PDT by know.your.why
Boeing Leaks After years of delays and technical problems, Boeing's Starliner finally made it to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on board last week. But when exactly it'll be able to undock and deliver its crew of two back to the surface remains to be seen.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
They need to send up some Flex Seal
That meme is hilarious.
Radio transmission: “Did somebody just say psssst?”
👀👂💨
Caption:
And if we work even 1 minute within a shift time we get paid for the full shift. Or we go on strike.
And we got a team watching to make sure we get the promotions ahead of anybody else. Or you get sued.
Have a diverse day, sucker.
SSsSSSSSSS, but in the silence of space you can’t hear!
LOL!
Now we know why Suni Williams screamed and yelled when she entered the ISS , she was very happy to get off the Boeing Starliner
Great points
Just for fun…
Also He monatomic gas is 4 grams per mole vs 28 for N2. So 7x as heavy to pressurize the same, using N2. A full 80 cu ft scuba tank full of air (mostly N2) weighs an extra 5.7 pounds ( 3000 psi vs 14.7 ) . For pressurizing tanks and/or using it as reaction gas I am guessing you would use probably the order of hundreds of pounds of N2 or more.
Helium costs up to $70 / lb. Cost to launch a pound to space station tens of thousands of dollars per pound on non-reusable vehicles. So hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars or more cheaper per launch.
Send the shuttle up to........oh. never mind. Let’s see, last shuttle landed July 2011. Hmmmmm. What since?
Article is hyper-ventilating and has a Boeing axe to grind and not accurate.
Plenty of helium for several days after un-docking to pressurize the RCS system for re-entry.
It’s fine for the mission at hand.
I recall a video clip of Butch Wilmore stating that the Starliner was the only craft he'd fly to space in. Can't find it now. Scrubbed? Or just my own failing memory?
I was glad when they managed to have a successful launch and docking, because more capability is better than less, but I doubt the system will ever become operational.
The 'Dear Moon' joy ride around the Moon, aboard the SpaceX Starship, has been called off due to the delay of the ship having intersected with the loss of the Japanese billionnaire's financial ability to pay for the thing.
from 2020:
Astronaut explains the road that led to the launch of SpaceX rocket
https://www.whas11.com/article/tech/science/astronaut-explains-the-road-that-led-to-the-launch-of-spacex-rocket/417-30ca5e48-4800-41de-bc87-eddd7754b95f
Boeing’s latest potential scandal is out of this world - literally.
Its Starliner spacecraft - which carried two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) last week - is unable to undock after several faults were found on the ship.
Teams have discovered five different leaks in the craft’s propulsion system which would navigate the craft through space as it returns to Earth.
The astronauts were set to return on June 14, but that has been delayed until June 22 while Boeing and NASA scramble to fix issues, leaving the astronauts stranded until then.
Now, experts have said that NASA could be forced to launch a rescue mission that would be a highly embarrassing blow for the embattled Boeing which is dealing with spate of issues plaguing its commercial jets.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13526637/Boeings-scandal-NASA-astronaut-ISS.html
You can Check Out anytime you like... But can Never leave...
Astronaut Butch has flown on the STS and the Soviet-era barely-orbital Soyuz, as well as the Starliner, and spent a decent amount of time on the ISS. Given his history of test pilot work and inherently risky space travel, I doubt that he'd balk at the risk of attempting reentry in this latest slapdash slipshod POS from Boeing, but NASA has a standing contingency plan for having SpaceX send a craft up with extra supplies and/or bringing stranded people home.
Since there's no way to fix these Starliner problems and helium loss may wind up turning it into a dead hulk, best guess is, they'll be riding home in the SpaceX capsule. If it were just a matter of using some duct tape and leaving earlier to maximize safety, they'd already be back on Earth.
So what happens to the Starliner if the astronauts can’t use it to return to Earth? Do they just abandon it in orbit? I keep hearing that space junk is becoming a more serious problem every year.
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