Spaceflight

568 readers

23 users here now

Your one-stop shop for spaceflight news and discussion.

All serious posts related to spaceflight are welcome! JAXA, ISRO, CNSA, Roscosmos, ULA, RocketLab, Firefly, Relativity, Blue Origin, etc. (Arca and Pythom, if you must).

Other related space communities:

Related meme community:

!spaceflightmemes@sh.itjust.works

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works

llamacoffee@lemmy.world

195

NASA decides to keep 2 astronauts in space until February, nixes return on troubled Boeing capsule (apnews.com)

submitted 3 weeks ago by teft@lemmy.world to c/spaceflight@sh.itjust.works

61 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] voluble@lemmy.world 17 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

The helium leaks on the RCS thrusters were a known problem before the Crew Flight Test, and Boeing gave assurances to NASA that the leaks wouldn't be problematic. What were those assurances based on? I don't know much about spaceflight, but it seems crazy to me that CFT was allowed to launch when there was a known issue that could impact docking and undocking with the ISS, and possibly deprive the capsule of a backup means of orienting for deorbit.

A person has to wonder - did Boeing's desire for a commercial success, at any point, impact their assessments of Starliner's safety? Is it possible that running this project at a set price was an impediment to proper, timely, and safe development?

[–] Jumuta@sh.itjust.works 11 points 3 weeks ago

nah the problem wasn't the helium leaks, it's overheating of the thrusters