• halyk.the.red@lemmy.ml
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    3 months ago

    The starliner is to return unmanned, according to this article. Can you imagine being on the ISS, and watching the ship you should have taken shred apart into burning rain as it attempts to pierce the veil of our atmosphere.

    • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Could you imagine being one of the remaining astronauts watching it from the ISS if it had returned with astronauts on board?

    • DreamlandLividity@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I would be very unhappy if I saw this spacecraft, that still has probably more than 95% chance of bringing me home safely if something happened, leave with no alternative in sight.

      • mojofrododojo@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        leave with no alternative in sight.

        ?? spacex is gonna get them home, this is hyperbole.

        now, if they, like me, despise musk, that part might sting, but I strongly doubt these professionals are overly concerned with that end. I’d prefer my managers ERRING ON THE SIDE OF SURVIVAL, and considering the noises the craft suddenly started making, yeah, prudent decision after all.

        Boeing doesn’t like it, but… tsk, thrusters aren’t new technology, this shit shouldn’t have been a problem in the first place, and certainly never made it to ORBIT without being 99.999% reliable. Boeing fucked up. Boeing’s thruster contractor - Rocketdyne - has been in the business since the 50s. This should be locked down, proven tech. Yet somehow startup spacex that doesn’t have 50+ years in space is whipping the shit out of Boeing + Rocketdyne, EVEN THOUGH BOEING WAS PAID MORE THAN SPACEX, only for it to end in this shit show.

        NASA errs on the side of caution and it’s the right decision.

          • ilinamorato@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            Great point. If motor vehicles had a 95% survival rate, there would be something like 15 million highway deaths per year in the United States.

            My point was mostly just that the Space Shuttle program had something like a 98% survival rate and it was largely considered in retrospect to have had serious safety problems.

    • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      As I said elsewhere: They should bring up the managers who are responsible for this program up with a SpaceX capsule, and let them descend with the Starliner.