NASA Is ‘Evaluating All Options’ to Get the Boeing Starliner Crew Home

Lmao.

I'm sorry to laugh, but it's just the absurdity of it all.

The downward spiral of Boeing is insane.

I got hired 2 days before all this shit! Had a pretty alright gig as a regional analyst before accepting. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- At this point I'm expecting the big Boeing building down the street by NASA to collapse in on itself and the doors to be found 3 towns over.
The irony of not being able to spiral downward, when spiraling downward.
This is how you know when to buy their stock

Why is NASA, a publicly funded science organization, fixing the mistakes of a for profit corporation?

Because for goddamn reason we socialize the losses and privatize the profits
- Those reasons being monopolies and greed and corruption and capitalism.
Because it'll look bad for NASA if people are stranded in the ISS (plus, I assume they have to foot the bill for any resulting extra resupply missions).

Also, if I'm not mistaken, NASA authorised the launch, while knowing the craft was faulty and leaking and the company malignantly incompetent, so it's partly their fault, too, or at least they were necessary accomplices.
- They gave Boeing the contract despite their obvious lack of experience in the area. There should be a forensic accounting, including any decision maker's finances, about this whole deal
  
  The US Federal Government would be best served by ARMIES of independent accountants doing audits of all its business, and issuing CRIMINAL CHARGES for all fraud, graft, and corruption, wherever it's found.
  
  Make it scary to give favors for bribes.
Read the article.

Boeing might opt to cancel Starliner and leave NASA with just a single provider of crew transportation. That would be painful for both NASA and Boeing.
Because the knuckle heads that protest end up in the streets for things they cant ever change instead actual concrete problems they could change with pressure.

But don't worry though, NASA says the astronauts are "not stranded".

Totally not stranded! The capsule that will bring them back just goes to another school.
- You wouldn’t know that capsule. It’s . . . It’s Canadian.
Yeah, I am seriously upset. NASA press office seems to be telling lies left and right, and they think they're just pulling the old Washington spin cycle, but it's obvious lies. And they're easy out of line.

They issued a 248k "emergency" engineering study contract to SpaceX to support extra pax on the dragon. NASA press office claimed this award had absolutely nothing to do with Crew Test, but this was immediately contradicted by anonymous internal sources.

Heads need to roll at NASA PAO.
- Totally not related. Just requested shortly after Starliner arrived at the station with issues. With an expeditious response. Totally normal procedures. Nothing to see here.
Yes, these headlines are continuing to say the astronauts are stranded, which really isn't the case. This vehicle is working well enough to return them at any time.

The thing is, there is something weird going on with some of the thrusters (of which there are many for redundancy) and this is their only chance to investigate the issue. If they were to return with the astronauts now, it would mean leaving the thrust module to burn up in the atmosphere, and then we wouldn't be able to test the problematic parts. We could still do that (leave now), but we'd miss out on this opportunity to test hardware and understand better why some thrusters failed.

On the other hand, this is still a huge waste of money and it's one more example of Boeing bungling things. So I'm not saying this is a great situation, just that the astronauts are not actually "stranded".
- Perhaps if they released some clue what they are learning, and what weeks 9, 10, 11, and 12 will reveal about the problem. Around week 4 this was a PR disaster and the silence is speaking even if they aren’t.
- Pretty sure the ISS always has a Soyuz on hand to bring astronauts back, but if they use that, then all the astronauts have to go back because the "bail out" options will be gone. So troubleshooting and getting the boeing capsule working is the primary goal.
Boeing doesn’t listen to their engineers, but we’re supposed to listen to their marketing department.
They're not. Whether they return on Starliner is the question. SpaceX can send a Dragon up to bring them back easily.
- As far as the Starliner mission is considered, they are stranded. Dragon is the rescue mission.

Two "not stranded" astronauts becoming increasingly stranded. More at 6

Holy shit. I got banned from reddit for saying the Boeing starliner astronauts should fear for their lives cuz Boeing. It was a joke, did not want it to become true! Hopefully they come home safe!

Wow that's actually crazy that they banned you for that lmao they couldn't make it any more obvious they got bought off by private companies, yikes. I'm glad Lemmy isn't prone to that, inherently by design.
- I got banned by a bot that found my comment and some human approved it. I deleted everything after that. 15 years, almost all of those with direct financial support.
It was a joke, did not want it to become true!

Reddit is, in fact, a joke.
A total ban like mine?

I got banned for going to sniffies and bringing people from there to r/Seattlegay, which I started during the pandemic.

They banned me site wise on all my accounts and all my devices.
- They banned me site wise for saying that riot police should quit their jobs following RvW. But all the right wing trolls spewing vitriol were perfectly acceptable.
- It was a 3 day ban, but my first in 15 years on the site, and with "Reddit Pro" membership or whatever they called it. Yeah no thanks.

Y’know one of those “options” was not to send it after the leaks were discovered.

Then they were all like, “Pffft. It’s fiiine. Just go.”

Then they were up there all, “Okay, so, slight delay”

Then, “Okay well that’s borked, but don’t worry, it’s all being handled.”

Now it’s “Options, anyone? Yes, all of them.”

When it had issues immediately post-launch, there were a LOT of Boeing-defenders: “oh no, keeping it there is a precaution, there’s nothing seriously wrong with it. They’re definitely not stuck on the station…”

Yeah. When this fucking death trap was launched WHILE HAVING ISSUES, I knew it wasn’t going to be a quick round trip. Frankly, I’d be amazed if those astronauts up there would be willing to take the return trip on it. NASA has a poor track record in that regard.

I absolutely love spaceflight and whole heartedly support programs. But Boeing needs to not be making spacecraft that humans fly on.

Frankly, I’d be amazed if those astronauts up there would be willing to take the return trip on it.

Why would you be surprised? They both have military experience... they do what they are told. Also they trust NASA and Boeing enough to be launched in the craft to begin with.

A top option should also be removing the current Boeing board and C suite. What a debacle.

Your wish is granted.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/31/investing/boeings-losses-new-ceo/index.html

As announced earlier key board members are also resigning.

Have they rotated the deck chairs on the Titanic, or is this a meaningful change?
What a calamity. Which is ironically how the capsule that is stuck got named. The jokes just write themselves.

Wait what, they are still up there ?

Wasn't it supposed to be postponed for just a few days so they can analyze the leaks and 'please move along nothing to see here'.

I had the same reaction a couple days ago when I saw they were still there. Definitely not a good look for Boeing.

Boeing is going to kill our astronauts. Enough of this.

The astronauts took off in that machine after the Boeing airplane fiascoes went mainstream. What was going through their heads? Why did they think this time would be OK when it's that much riskier than ordinary plane flights?

I would love to hear their interviews after they return safely, somehow, in the future.
- I'm not going to defend Boeing in any way, but is it a bit reductive to say their commercial plane parts have quality problems, therefore their NASA stuff will too?
- Not only that, but they kept finding leaks on the rocket leading up to launch
- I imagine you don't become an astronaut by being scared of potential failures.

They are considering sending a 737 max

It will certainly descend fast enough to get them home for dinner
With a set of parachutes.
Once it reaches max altitude to match theirs, a welcome mat is pulled out by the release of the safety doors. A bag of screws is located under your seat under the flotation device. Just pull the rug in and bolt the door back safely.

It seems to me like we should be at the point where there should just always be a backup plan so the people taking the real risks don't have to sit around waiting for 8+ weeks as some people try to do best by them while others just try to cover their assess and pretend everything is ok because they are fucked if things aren't ok and might be inclined to risk lives in the hopes they get the good outcome.

I'm just glad they have a ready-to-deploy backup plan. SpaceX is nailing it. I just hope that the future will remember the terrific work that Gwynne Shotwell and many others did while "someone else" where busy tossing money away.

Sorry, no. Fuck SpaceX. They are helping destroy everything.

https://www.independent.co.uk/space/elon-musk-spacex-starlink-internet-b2567423.html
- Well, this was actually fkning concerning. Ofk is not like other Company aren't playing to launch thousand of satellites too. There should be a serious regulation and some heavy changes in the metal alloy used at very least. I'm sure that Trump already has a plan about it...
  
  ... ofk i'm fking kidding. Vote [everyone else] x president .
- You can criticise them for that while being glad they are a reliable astronaut transport, unlike Boeing. The world is not black and white.
- Aluminum is a major element of the 5200 tons of stardust per year. Sadly found no numbers.
- Ehhh needs more study. Aluminum oxides in the atmosphere actually provide a cooling effect. That being said, we don’t know much about the health implications yet.

boeing should have all contracts cancelled and be broken up. every gov't. official that OK'd the starliner and this mission should be fired and investigated.

Send a Soyuz

Isn't there one docked right now?
- Yes, but that's the emergency escape vehicle for the regular crew.
  
  Right now they aren't using the Boeing ship because it may be dangerous. In an emergency, however, they at least have 2 spacecraft docked.
- Good question, I don't know

Well, time for the emergency knotted rope I guess.

Have Red Bull send up some space suits and parachutes.

McGiver is still alive and he's got star gates and intergalactic spaceships....and paperclips! Tons of 📎 🖇️📎🖇️ paperclips!

NASA spokesperson Josh Finch told Ars on Thursday evening, “NASA is evaluating all options for the return of agency astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams from the International Space Station as safely as possible. No decisions have been made, and the agency will continue to provide updates on its planning.”

A standard statement like this doesn't really warrant a news article.

That is a notable change from "we're just double checking things on the Starliner, which we think we can fix. We expect them to ride it home soon" that has been the message for a long time. Now it's "we're looking at all options".
- Imagine setting NASAs credibility on fire to keep Boeing warm.
- For weeks it hasn't been about fixing starliner for the return trip, it's been about studying the thrusters before they get destroyed on return.
  
  The claim is it's been okay to come back for quite awhile.
- It's NASA. They're always looking at all options.
But it got clicks and that is all that matters to the people in charge.

Online news media has become nothing more than a marketing vehicle that has articles somewhere behind the banners and pop-up video windows.

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