Posted on 05/13/2022 12:50:21 PM PDT by BenLurkin
In preparation for this second attempt at OFT-2, the Starliner capsule is currently sitting atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, which is scheduled to launch from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 6:54 p.m. EDT on Thursday, May 19. Should all go as planned, the uncrewed CST-100 will dock at the International Space Station on Friday, May 20 at 7:10 p.m. EDT. Starliner OFT-2 is packed with around 500 pounds of cargo (mostly food), and the plan is to return 600 pounds of cargo back to Earth.
Recent precedent being what it is, this itinerary is hardly a certainty. The problems that have plagued this program have run the gamut, from hardware glitches and software anomalies through to shoddy processes and organizational deficiencies. Boeing’s shortcomings as a NASA partner have been on full display over the past several years and amplified by the accomplishments at SpaceX, NASA’s other commercial crew partner. Elon Musk’s Crew Dragon has been shuttling astronauts to the ISS and returning them home for two years now.
The launch of Boeing’s OFT-1 mission on December 20, 2019 was an early sign that things weren’t quite right. The capsule managed to reach space, but a software automation glitch caused the spacecraft to burn excess fuel, preventing it from reaching its target—the ISS. A subsequent investigation implicated a faulty Mission Elapsed Timer, which caused timings on Starliner and the rocket to go out of sync. Starliner miscalculated its location in space as a result, triggering the unfortunate fuel burn. Investigators also uncovered a coding error that could’ve led to an unsafe service module separation sequence. As if that weren’t enough, space-to-ground communications were unexpectedly lost during the OFT-1 test.
(Excerpt) Read more at gizmodo.com ...
Oh, you mean the Starliner MAX?
Looks like a traditional capsule. I think Musk’s is way cooler. (just from a visual standpoint, mind.)
Somewhere around 2005 one of Boeing’s employees, who went by the name “Mr Hands”, died while having sex with a stallion. Specifically, he bled out from a ruptured colon. I have this suspicion that back during the space race they had a different kind of person working there, and that is why we managed to win. No longer, apparently.
The main plotline of “The Death of Dick Long.”
This has to be successful in order for the EPA and FAA to grant Musk permission to launch the next version of the StarShip, unless Bezos and his Blue Horizons object, then its back on indefinite hold for the StarShip.
They will do a remake of just about anything, won’t they?
Meanwhile, SpaceX got paid only $2.8 Billion for crew dragon, which they successfully developed and which has been delivering astronauts to the ISS since when President Trump was in power.
Atlas 5? Wasn’t that the Apollo rocket?
I’ve seen Boeing blow through that much and deliver nothing. What was a $100 billion annual revenue company cares nothing about a $1 billion program.
What???
Did that actually happen?
Was this incident in the news?
You've got to be kidding everyone here.
That was the Saturn V, the Atlas series goes way back though.
A flock of birds will attack it
...”and the plan is to return 600 pounds of cargo back to Earth.”
Garbage and Human Waste?
Ha ha ha ga ha
I don’t see Boeing ever returning to $100 billion. The aviation market is changing. Spoke-n-Hub is dying. People want direct flights, and the volume will support that. Other airplane companies can do it, but Boeing has gone too far down the liberal Kool-Aid path and has killed itself.
Airbus still has engineers who know what they are doing. Boeing is broken. The president of Boeing was going to show the world that he fixed the MAX by flying a show flight with his kids. That is a cliwn running a clown company
“Did that actually happen?”
Yup, sure did. Here you go:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enumclaw_horse_sex_case
There was actually a video out there of the incident.
Ah right. How did Saturn become Atlas in my head…
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.