Good luck Boeing Starliner

I just got word from a friend who lives a little closer that I do. He said it was fun to watch from his house.

So close now to finally not having to make our astronauts hitch hike into space.

 

Apparently something was amiss.

 

Too bad.

I used to say “If it ain’t Boeing, I ain’t going.....” but they seem to be having a pretty tough run of bad luck lately.
They’re supposed to land “within the next 48 hours”
I hope they get the vehicle back more nominally.

Good Luck Guys!

 

They are still clarifying the problem but an event clock seems to have gone awry. Starliner itself will land ever so gently at White Sands.

 

fingers crossed

 

Gently @ White Sands: hopefully!

Those guys are due for some good luck.

 

Boeing's 1st Starliner Spacecraft Lands in New Mexico After Shortened Test Flight | Space

Woops! As they say in tech-speak.

 

Man!
That landing looked like a Rube-Goldberg affair.....but they got it down.

 

Perhaps if you gave them more (government) money they could have done better.
They try that logic for education, why not for space development? Throw more taxpayers' money at it!

 

Elon is way ahead in the paradigm shift. Boeing is tied to yesterday's culture and convention. They are creatures of the old habit.

The Atlas 5 is old technology and is thrown away with a one time use.

Geoffrey De Haviland gambled ad lost with the Comet. Boeing used De Haviland's lessons learned with the 707.

Elon gambled with the newer technology and apparently won.

 

Bit of a different thing.

The de Havilland Comet was the world's first commercial jet....and it's direct descendant (The MR.2/MRA.4 Nimrod) was only recently retired.
Space capsules are hardly emerging technology, and they've been around for well over a half a century - although Musk certainly is revolutionizing the delivery vehicle.
Space-X seems to be satisfied using old tech when and where it's able to, and the Dragon reminds me of a re-warmed Soyuz capsule that's capable of an Apollo-style recovery mode.

In the Military, we call that KISS.

As far as the money thing, Boeing has to pass critical design tests on a pre-defined budget.
Otherwise?
NASA will give their bucks to SpaceX....a privately held company.

THAT is as different as how we fund our education system in America as Boeing's 787 Dreamliner is from the first 707s (also....still in service!)


Fun Fact:
You just HAVE to love the Brits.
When they deploy lumbering, multi-engine military surveillance and reconnaissance jets that were developed from commercial airliners....they put a couple of AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles on them......you know......"just because."

 

If NASA had done that when developing spacesuits, we would have had rigid robotic-like suits. Instead they has Playtex design a flexible space suit.

Neil Armstrong’s Spacesuit Was Made by a Bra Manufacturer |History | Smithsonian Magazine

The seamstresses who helpWhen NASA needed a lunar spacesuit, they turned to the women who sewed girdles and bras for Playtex - CBS News

 

The Atlas is still using the "balloon" pressurized stainless steel tanks that Convair used on the MX774.

Elon uses lithium aluminum alloys like Weldlite.

 

hmmm, sounds like a gen2 prius gas tank bladder...

 

The balloon tank means that the Atlas is expendable and never be returned to earth like the Falcon rocket for reuse. It needs the pressurized fuel to support it at atmospheric pressure of sea level. As it expends it's fuel, the pressure is lower at altitude both on the outside on the inside. Less support is needed. When the Atlas returns to pressure at the surface, it collapses like a limp toothpaste tube.

 

Perhaps the US Gen 2 Prius gas tank was meant for only one-time use??