technology @hexbear.net Yuritopiaposadism [none/use name] @hexbear.net 5 mo. ago

Boeing does it again.

https://www.livescience.com/space/space-exploration/astronauts-stranded-in-space-due-to-multiple-issues-with-boeings-starliner-and-the-window-for-a-return-flight-is-closing

38 comments

Think of how much worse it will be for those astronauts if Trump is elected
- News breaks when he and the media are on the tarmac waiting to get on Air Force One.
  
  "Wha?" He cones his ear with his hand. "The Boeing Spaceship blew up and the astronauts died? That's too bad. But it happens. Rocket fuel is dangerous. Very dangerous..." And then he tells a bizarre two minute story about "my uncle at MIT - the physicist who made airliner planes". For a few days lib media fulminates that he didn't give proper respect to the deceased astronauts who Lawrence O'Donnell calls "explorer heroes for humankind".
  
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They're Boeing to die!

(Actually probably not, Space X, Russia, or China will have to send something up to rescue them, and I don't think Musk has a capsule ready for at least another 2 months.)
- my money is on china
  
  Country the USA does not allow on the ISS, builds its own space station, proceed to rescue all astronauts on the ISS
  
  I swear to god, I I can't fucking wait. Ultimate China space race 2.0 victory
  
  There's actually an open question on that. China's Shenzhou spacecraft was heavily based on Soyuz. But there's never been clear communication from the CNSA that the Shenzhou uses a standard Soyuz-style APAS docking system or if they modified it. It may not even be possible to dock Shenzhou to the ISS at all.
  
  This lack of public information is pretty common unfortunately for those of us interested in spaceflight. It's not sinophobic to state that the CNSA is incredibly tight-lipped on specifications. They're very public with scientific research results relating to spaceflight, but almost never give the technical details on how they accomplish that research.
  
  My bet is on NASA making a change to the Crew-9 flight in august, either to add physical seats or only send two astronauts up instead of the planned four. Adding new seats is theoretically possible as the Crew Dragon structure was originally designed to accommodate 7. But it may require modifications that might not be possible to complete before the flight. I think it more likely that NASA only sends up two astronauts. NASA doesn't like emergency design changes.
  
  I will eat my hat before Bill Nelson would request a Soyuz from Russia. That is going to be his absolute last resort. Nelson is going to be under extreme pressure from the White House to make NASA's response a "made in the USA" solution.
  
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- For Boeing about to rock, we salute you
  
  Song
If there's any company that would kill a bunch of astronauts through sheer incompetence during an election year and at a time when the US is looking weak on the national stage, I'd definitely put money on Boeing.
- Possible putler agents?
  
  Boeing is a SeeSeePee bot!
So obviously Bryce Dallas Howard directs the movie about this. Who stars? Whose the modern Tom Hanks, Bill Hader?
What happens when time runs out? Do they just leave them there to die?
- No, they'll just undock it and send it down unmanned, replacing it with an unmanned Dragon or Soyuz or something. This isn't any real emergency, it's just more bad news piling into Boeing at a time when they can't seem to do anything right
- There is also a SpaceX dragon capsule currently docked to the ISS. That seats four. 8 people in space on the ISS right now. Maybe there's enough space with suits on, but I can't imagine there's much leg room for that road trip.
  
  The Dragon in question is kitted for 3. There's also an emergency evac capsule (Still a Soyuz I think EDIT: Yes, Soyuz MS-25!). But that's only another 2-3 and having US astronauts brought back by Roscosmos would be.....embarassing.
- The article says the 45 day window is due to fuel limitations with Starliner, so at that point I'd imagine they'd un-dock it and de-orbit without crew. Regardless they wouldn't leave the astronauts to die (I hope) and would mount a rescue mission.
wow, just an idea here - but maybe, just maybe, the space program shouldn't have been privatized
You think Biden is gonna prioritize this lol
The Shinra rocket from Final Fantasy VII had better build quality and their society was a techno dystopia steampunk thingy.
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  Basically every single thing the Soviets ever built
OF FUCKING COURSE LMAOOOO
Why is there a return window btw? What happen past it?

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