SpaceX to the rescue?

Originally set to return in mid-June, Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams may be on the station until February, 2025.

During a press conference today, NASA representatives confirmed they have a contingency plan to bring astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams home from the International Space Station (ISS) early next year. If they’re unable to leave sooner aboard the Boeing Starliner spacecraft that brought them there

Tests conducted at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility pointed to deformed Teflon seals being a potential cause of the Starliner’s thrusters failing, but the agency isn’t expected to make a final decision on whether or not Williams and Wilmore will return using Boeing’s spacecraft until mid-August.

      • unalivejoy@lemm.eeEnglish
        2·
        2 months ago

        When the marketing department has some extra funds, so they rescue their competitor.

    • dactylotheca@suppo.fiEnglish
      11·
      2 months ago

      I doubt they spent all that much money murking whatshisname. The R&D money goes to the parasites known as executives and shareholders

      • towerful@programming.dev
        2·
        2 months ago

        Gotta research dividends!

        Edit:
        Maybe Boeing made a simple mistake and invested in Relaxation & Dividends, instead of Research & Development.

          • wildncrazyguy138@fedia.io
            28·
            2 months ago

            It’s easy to hate on Boeing. Yea, they done f-ed up a few times and upper management made some very poor decisions, but there are 10s of thousands of people who work there and it’s a good manufacturing job in a country that used to pride itself on manufacturing. We can’t all be service workers, and I’d venture that, given the way you present yourself online, you’re probably not someone who is resting on their laurels either.

            Now, back to stocks. It’s also quite simple to throw a slick quip about how the big bad shareholder bogeyman is ruining our country, but, unless you’re among the minority in this country, you likely own some stock in some company, somehow. The shareholders are us.

            But therein gives us a lot of power. Many shares are voting shares. We could, if we all chose to, enact the corporate change we wish to see. And coincidentally enough, there are people precisely doing that kind of good work. Look up the philosophy behind ESG, it is becoming a thing. Or certified B corps. Likewise, many countries require unions to have a seat on their board; unfortunately for now, the US isn’t one of them, but that could change.

            Or, ya know, we could just be dismissive and scapegoat our problems. That’s life, we get to choose our own adventure.

            • exanime@lemmy.world
              1·
              2 months ago

              Next you are going to tell us that we can save the planet by recycling harder…

              Not sure if you are delusional or just trolling

              • wildncrazyguy138@fedia.io
                0·
                2 months ago

                I take it you don’t recycle then eh? Paper and cans just aren’t worth your time.

                It’s all the corporations fault, we’re totally not complicit in the degradation process as well.

                And y’all call me deluded…

                • exanime@lemmy.world
                  0·
                  2 months ago

                  I do recycle and do what I can… I just hold no delusions that I’ll save the planet by doing that while corporations literally pollute per day 100x over what I can recycle in a lifetime.

                  If 1000 of us were to die tomorrow, dropping out pollution to zero, I would not make up for a single Kardashian private flight to spare her from 40 mins traffic

      • mercano@lemmy.world
        10·
        2 months ago

        Yes and no. One of the problems right now is each of the three capsule designs uses a different pressure suit, with different hookups, and each relies on a custom fitted seat liner to absorb some of the shock of landing / splashdown, so if you’re planning on landing on a different ship then you launched on, they need to send up a new seat liner & space suit.

        This was half a problem even with the shuttle. You still needed a different spacesuit, but because it landed gently on a runway, it didn’t require custom seats.

        • macniel@feddit.org
          3·
          2 months ago

          Ah come on. Don’t tell us it’s the square plug into the round receptacle issue all over again (Apollo 13 style)?

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
            34·
            2 months ago

            How do I know? Why should they need to? They have families. Obviously they would rather be with them.

            • 9tr6gyp3@lemmy.world
              55·
              2 months ago

              Would they honestly rather be with their families and are asking to leave? How do you know these details?

              • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
                44·
                2 months ago

                Because it’s their families? Are you serious? They don’t want to be with their partners and kids?

                Should we call CPS?

                • criticon@lemmy.ca
                  5·
                  2 months ago

                  But they are in space doing science. Some people like their jobs and their families can understand that this is temporary

  • Pennomi@lemmy.worldEnglish
    18·
    2 months ago

    The industry gossip/theory going around is that there’s a software issue in Starliner that makes it incapable of autonomously returning to Earth. This is probably NASA’s way of telling Boeing to fix it to a satisfactory degree of confidence before a given deadline, or else.

    Arguably that alone is enough reason to completely abandon Starliner as an option for the return trip.

    • Zipitydew@sh.itjust.works
      5·
      2 months ago

      It’s only an issue in that the logic isn’t currently turned on. The capsule can do it just fine. It just wasn’t the point of this mission.

      NASA update earlier today said Boeing can turn the ability on if needed. Will just need time for update and then testing to make sure it’s all good to go.

  • kamenLady.@lemmy.world
    202·
    2 months ago

    Fuck Boeing - for real fr

    Playing with the lives of people seems now to be officially their thing.

  • TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee
    16·
    2 months ago

    Just sit right back

    And you’ll hear a tale

    A tale of a fateful trip,

    That started from a tropic port,

    Aboard this tiny ship.

    The mate was a mighty sailin’ lass.

    The Skipper brave and sure,

    Two passengers set sail that day,

    For an eight day tour,

    A eight day tour.

    • NegativeNull@lemmy.world
      9·
      2 months ago

      The space station has tons of stockpile of consumables like that, and are still being regularly restocked by cargo ships (unmanned).

        • towerful@programming.dev
          3·
          2 months ago

          Pretty sure cargo dragon is just a stripped down crew dragon to make more space for cargo.
          Or maybe, crew dragon is a cargo dragon fitted for passengers… Seeing as cargo dragon flew with cargo and docked to the ISS in 2012 (crew dragon was 2020).

          Pretty sure crew dragon has all the auto/remote to fully launch and then dock to the ISS.
          Cargo dragon is auto/remote docked. Doesn’t even need canadarm. So would make sense that crew dragon is as well

          • ndupont@lemmy.worldEnglish
            3·
            2 months ago

            You could equally fit 2 additional seats in a crew dragon, which was designed for 7 people from the beginning

  • Guy_Fieris_Hair@lemmy.world
    41·
    2 months ago

    I get that being trapped in a tube that is essentially a tiny little bubble of habitable area in the vast, hostile, emptiness of space can already be super claustrophobia inducing and they are vetted and trained for that. But it seems once you are up there and you realize the world’s leaders in space, and the people that sent you can’t figure out how to get you home, that would trigger that panic in anyone. If there is an emergency you have no escape and there is no rescue coming.

    • Bimfred@lemmy.world
      2·
      2 months ago

      What’s your reasoning behind the claim that a company that’s been transporting crew to and from the ISS for 4 years, and currently has a vehicle docked to the station, is incapable of launching a tenth mission? Mind that said mission was supposed to launch next week, but Starliner is being a pad princess in orbit and won’t get off the required docking port.

  • maniii@lemmy.worldEnglish
    413·
    2 months ago

    NASA did a study recently that micro-gravity and zero-g causes corneal eye damage causing astronauts to lose eyesight over long durations in space.

    Is the possibility of these astronauts going blind permanently due to Boing Boing ?

    I think it is time to put this shitty “aerospace” company into the ground.

    • Chocrates@lemmy.world
      13·
      2 months ago

      Scott Kelley did 340 days in space without too much long term damage that I am aware of (his was the first long term test) so I wouldn’t anticipate damage much worse than what he got. If we can get them out in under a year and if they get don’t have an emergency and if they don’t have any underlying medical conditions that get exacerbated and if our single test can be used to predict their outcomes.

      We really fucked up. Either trusting Boeing or not having a contingency plan I guess.

    • 👍Maximum Derek👍@discuss.tchncs.deOPEnglish
      12·
      2 months ago

      It’s certainly not great for their eyes, but a number of people have been up for longer in one go. I think Frank Rubio currently holds the record at ~14 months.