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A scathing report on how badly NASA and Boeing fucked up on the Starliner crew vehicle intended to ferry crew to and from the International Space Station.

The latest eight day Starliner flight, with two astronauts aboard, turned into a nine month stay on the ISS because Starliner had so many problems on the docking approach that NASA didn't trust it to return the astronauts safely to Earth. Eventually it was detached uncrewed safely and was landed under automated control. A Crew Dragon had to be sent up with two fewer astronauts than planned so that the stranded test flight astronauts could get a seat back to Earth.

There's good news though. Both Boeing's Starliner and SpaceX's Crew Dragon are fixed-price contracts with payments on certain milestones. These aren't the old-fashioned "cost-plus" contracts where the contractor could just bill for every expense with a fat margin on top. Boeing has actually lost money on Starliner already, and they have to eat that loss, they can't bill NASA for it. Boeing actually got the larger contract, because their pet senators argued that Boeing was the more experienced and reliable contractor.

To put things in perspective, Starliner's lifespan from the awarding of the contract to the present day is longer than the time between the first artificial satellite and the first crewed moon landing.

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[–] LeeeroooyJeeenkiiins@hexbear.net 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

im sorry but that's not a "starliner" though it's "just another capsule"

I thought it'd at least be an attempt to make it look like a "ship" like the SpaceX thing if they're gonna call it a "starliner"

[–] buckykat@hexbear.net 3 points 1 day ago (3 children)

"Ship" is actually a stupid and bad shape to make a thing that has to go up and down through an atmosphere.

Yeah I know but I'm still not gonna let them get away with naming a POD like it's a SHIP. Come on, have ye no anger for false advertising?

[–] someone@hexbear.net 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

My opinion is that the only true spaceships ever built were the Apollo lunar landers. Everything else has either been uncrewed, a space station, or part aircraft.

[–] buckykat@hexbear.net 1 points 1 day ago

Valid and cool opinion, and thinking in that vein I'd be even more picky and only count the ascent module.

But really, a spaceship as we imagine it still hasn't yet been created. A vessel entirely for space, never intended to enter an atmosphere or touch a surface, but purely to move people and supplies between various orbits.

The nuclear shuttle of the original STS plan would have been one, had it ever been built.

[–] Le_Wokisme@hexbear.net 2 points 1 day ago

water ship

air ship

rival ship

space ship