US & World

Boeing’s Space Humiliation Is Complete

Citing ‘uncertainty,’ NASA dispatches rival SpaceX capsule to rescue astronauts stranded by crony capitalist corporation’s latest failure…

Officials with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have decided to send a SpaceX Dragon 2 capsule to rescue two astronauts stranded aboard the International Space Station (ISS) rather than attempt to bring them back to earth in the Starliner spacecraft which carried them into orbit three months ago.

Veteran astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams – a pair of former U.S. Navy aviators – launched on June 5, 2024 in the first crewed test flight of Starliner, which is manufactured by embattled crony capitalist aerospace giant Boeing

They won’t be returning on the spacecraft, however, after five of its maneuvering thrusters appear to have overheated and lost power two months ago when it was approaching the ISS for docking.

“NASA has decided that Butch and Suni will return with Crew-9 next February,” the agency announced, referring to a capsule manufactured by Boeing’s rival.

The decision – announced on Saturday – is a massive blow to Boeing, which was already seven years late (and billions of dollars over budget) on its Starliner project. The news also comes as Boeing is reeling from multiple scandals involving the manufacture of its passenger jets.

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The Starliner capsule in question – Calypso – will remain docked at the ISS for the next few weeks and “make a safe, controlled autonomous re-entry and landing in early September.”

“The uncrewed return allows NASA and Boeing to continue gathering testing data on Starliner during its upcoming flight home, while also not accepting more risk than necessary for its crew,” NASA said in a statement.

Curiously, one NASA executive was quoted as saying he still believes Starliner “is a very capable spacecraft.”

Just not capable of crewed spaceflight, apparently… which is literally its only job.

As for Wilmore and Williams, they will return home in February on the SpaceX Dragon capsule Freedom, which was scheduled to launch earlier this month with a four-person crew. Its mission was delayed by NASA, however, after it became clear a rescue mission was necessary for the two stranded astronauts.

NASA said its decision to bring Calypso back without her crew was made after “reviewing a collection of data, conducting flight and ground testing, hosting independent reviews with agency propulsion experts and developing various return contingency plans.”

“The uncertainty and lack of expert concurrence does not meet the agency’s safety and performance requirements for human spaceflight,” the agency said in a statement.

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“Spaceflight is risky, even at its safest and most routine,” NASA administrator and former U.S. senator Bill Nelson said in a statement. “A test flight, by nature, is neither safe, nor routine. The decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard the International Space Station and bring Boeing’s Starliner home uncrewed is the result of our commitment to safety: Our core value and our North Star. I’m grateful to both the NASA and Boeing teams for all their incredible and detailed work.”

A commitment to safety hasn’t always been NASA’s “core value” or its “North Star.” During the Space Shuttle program’s four-decade history, fourteen astronauts lost their lives in two separate accidents – a pair of preventable tragedies which review panels later determined to have been caused, at least in part, by a flawed organizational culture.

“Only significant structural changes to NASA?s organizational culture will enable (the agency) to succeed,” the latter review panel report (.pdf) concluded.

As I reported earlier this month, Boeing and NASA have shelled out $6.7 billion on Starliner since 2010. The program was supposed to put its first astronauts in orbit seven years ago. Conversely, NASA has paid SpaceX $3.1 billion for its successful Dragon program – which has launched thirteen crewed flights without incident.

In that report, I also noted another Boeing space project which is facing similar quality control concerns. According to a report issued on August 8, 2024 by NASA’s inspector general, Boeing’s work on the massive Space Launch System 1B – a key component of the agency’s planned manned lunar missions – has been plagued by delays, cost overruns and “ineffective quality management and (an) inexperienced workforce.”

“Until this company can get its act together, the federal government should not give Boeing any additional work,” I noted.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Will Folks (Dylan Nolan)

Will Folks is the owner and founding editor of FITSNews. Prior to founding his own news outlet, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina, bass guitarist in an alternative rock band and bouncer at a Columbia, S.C. dive bar. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.

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1 comment

Yi Long Ma! I Lahv You! August 26, 2024 at 8:21 am

Neither Boeing or SpaceX are competently run.

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