Posted on 08/10/2021 4:14:08 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Over the weekend, engineers were able to open seven of those valves and restore them to working order, the company said, and it is still hopeful that it could launch the test flight by the end of the month. But Boeing still does not know what caused the problem, which forced yet another delay in a program that has been plagued by serious issues for years.
Boeing is developing Starliner under a contract with NASA to fly the space agency’s astronauts to and from the International Space Station. Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the other company that holds the “commercial crew” contract, has now flown three human spaceflight missions to the space station, but Boeing has struggled with its program and has lagged far behind.
Before it flies a test mission with astronauts, Boeing must first launch an uncrewed mission that would demonstrate that the autonomous spacecraft is able to meet up with the station in orbit, dock, survive the vacuum of space, and then fly back to Earth safely. Once those milestones are achieved, NASA would then green light a flight with astronauts on board.
The Starliner launch was rescheduled to Aug. 3, but Boeing and NASA announced that it would be delayed after it discovered “unexpected valve position indications in the propulsion system.”
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.com ...
But they got a great price on those valve assemblies from Red China....
The computers are NOT hooked up to the internet .... DIEBOLD guarantees it .
oops
Our tax dollars at work…
SpaceX has a much better record and uses much less of our tax dollars
Just allow Musk to do it. Boeing doesn’t have the flexibility and ability to innovate the way SpaceX does. I’m sure they’ll get there eventually by brute force, but Boeing will probably spend a LOT more to get there. And it’ll probably be in the form of our tax dollars.
Diversity is our strength.
More outsourced software from India? Why not call it Starliner Max?
Meanwhile Elon is literally building 1940s sci-fi rockets in Boca Chica that will soon orbit space and be able to lift the mass of an 1860 steam train into space.
Starliner....
Foreigner...
Oh wait...
(Loved the song but it’s not Starliner)
They must have the same team that designed the Boeing 737Max.
Isn’t that “good enough for government work”
I’ll never forget when AlGore was running for Pres. He visited a factory and gave a speech when saying how proud he was that the status of quality was when something was “Good enough for government work”
Meaning he actually thought “good enough for government work” was a compliment.
That phrase means ‘any old crap you can toss in a box’. And whoever told him it was a ‘mark of quality’ was probably laughing their balls off when he said it.
In contrast, Musk is a very smart, driven oddball who dominates Space-X and has a vision and team that emphasize engineering advances, experimental effort, and robust quality in the final production model. Musk knows that his high wire act requires progress and tends to a damn the cost, get it done frame of mind that is alien to the culture of Boeing and other large American manufacturers. Who knows though, but public embarassment and the marketplace may eventually lead Boeing back to fundamentals. If not, they will soon burn through the advantages of size and reputation.
“Well, it worked on paper” Probably should have tested that system together before rolling out to the pad. Paper is all good and fine, but that only gets you to a starting point. Real testing is where you actually get a system working.
Absolutely. Does anyone think that a young smart engineer at Boeing would be able to walk up to the Boeing CEO and say “hey I think new technique this will work.” Of course not. But at SpaceX this is a daily occurrence. I just hope Musk is able to keep it this way for the foreseeable future. At some point, Tesla and SpaceX will probably go the same route as Boeing.
I don’t know for sure, but if I had to guess, Musk sketches out a system, throws a bunch of crap together in a lab, gets the crap working, and then goes through the engineering behind it...whereas Boeing specifies the crap out of stuff, convinces themselves that it should work fine, then flubs the testing because they failed to specify one or two critical characteristics...and so has to, essentially, start over...and over...and over.
You read all the books and learn all the math you want, but you will not get an HVAC License, a Plumbing License, an Electrician License, or an Aircraft Mechanic License without having gotten your hands dirty for an extended period of time. There’s a reason for that...
That's the real problem.
This spacecraft is not safe for humans. They are going to kill people.
You couldn’t pay me to get on any of them. Least of all, this one.
So maybe the time has come to dump Boeing and devote more resources to Musk's solution that actually works?
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