NASA has decided it’s too risky to bring two astronauts back to Earth in Boeing’s troubled new capsule. They’ll have to wait until February for a ride home with SpaceX.
NASA update a few weeks back said all 27 thrusters passed multiple hot fire simulations of the return mission. That overall things looked fine. And they still felt safety factor of riding home on Dragon was better.
Kinda neat that there are multiple options now. NASA mission leaders felt the same a while back. Even if Starliner seems fine to come home why take even that slight bit of risk.
Boeing engineers tested the thrusters and managed to replicate the issue. They found that there issue was caused by a bulging of a Teflon valve.
However they don't understand the root cause of why the Teflon is bulging.
So Boeing said it's safe for the astronauts to return on Starliner but they also said that they fixed the thruster issues they had on the previous flight.
Not all NASA is confident that the Starliner is safe enough.
IIRC, the whole thing is a bit of misconception in the popular imagination. It'll reenter just fine if it manages the right maneuvers. The risk is hitting the ISS on the way out.
I'd like to say yes, you're right. But you're in a relatively small place, it was unplanned by a large margin so there's less to do for work, and I know the amazement of literally anywhere would start to wear out after being there non stop 24/7 with little to do. Plus neither astronaut is a first timer. They've both been in space quite a bit already.
So how long will the amazement of being weightless and out in space last before its closer to normal than amazing? I'm sure nasa has been trying to keep them busy up there.
Listening to NASA’s official press releases isn’t exactly what I’d call being a keyboard warrior. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using the most authoritative source as your primary world view, in most cases.