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Astronauts stuck in space another week as Boeing, NASA troubleshoot Starliner
(www.independent.co.uk)
this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2024
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Saw this comment over at Naked Capitalism today and just had to share it here:
Had a bad thought. Suppose that the engineers say that it is far too risky for those astronauts to go back to Earth using the Starliner so they will have to wait to get a lift with SpaceX’s Dragon capsule or maybe a Russian Soyuz after several months. But then the Boeing board meets and decides that if that happened, that it would make their program look bad and endanger future contracts. So then they order those two astronauts to fly Starliner back to Earth right away. It could happen that way.
Time to troubleshoot the CEO, and I'm all out of trouble.
This has to be the worst 12 months of press any company has gotten since Subway and Jared right?
damn I hope someone is taking care of their cats
I thought it was just a test flight? Are they seriously put the lives of astronaut in that leaking piece of safety hazard and hurl them back to earth?
Such an iconic episode. 
Jesus Christ, I knew this would happen. Fucking terrifying.
Edit: Actually it was Starlink imploding or whatever that I foresaw, but you know the free market is going to give us that at some point in the near future.
Starlink is actually burning holes in the ozone layer
America legit hasn't made a good spacecraft since Apollo. Somehow Boeing is gonna outdo the space shuttle.
meanwhile the soyuz is like the toyota camry of spacecraft
3 astronauts were burned to death in Apollo 1 on the ground and Apollo 13 had to be aborted midway to the moon after an explosion took out life support
Soyuz has escape systems that made it one of the safest spacecrafts out there.
Most Soviet/Russian platforms have specially designed escape systems to improve the survivability of the crew. Soviet/Russian submarines have escape pods that their American counterparts don’t. The Russian Ka-50/52 attack helicopters are the only helicopters in the world that have an ejection system, and has been used successfully at least once in its operational history (during the war in Ukraine).
It would be extremely funny if Russia and/or China sends aid to the astronauts before the US does
Sadly the Obama administration made it illegal for NASA to cooperate with or take any aid from China.
Incredible how 
's company wasn't the one that this happened to (yet).
No theirs leaks hypergolic fuel (only on the ground though)
If I was an astronaut I think I would enjoy an extra week in space
Probably just spend a lot of time watching the world go by. Legit that's been a dream of mine since I was a kid.
Maybe China can rescue them like in The Martian
What if they run out of food?
The ISS has a mandatory 45 day minimum supply of food and other essentials needed by the crew. In practice it's more like 6 months. Cargo supplies are launched using several independently-developed cargo ships: Cygnus, Progress, and Cargo Dragon. They're all in regular rotation to top up supplies. The Starliner astronauts could stay up as long as is needed if a Crew Dragon needs to be launched to take them home.
There is a policy of requiring a "lifeboat" seat for every single person on board the ISS. During the Shuttle era where shuttle missions swapped out crew, this role was filled by an extra Soyuz that docked uncrewed. Nowadays it's filled by the original vehicle that brought up that specific crew member. If Starliner can't be used to return, that rule will have to be waived temporarily. If that happens then a Crew Dragon is the only vehicle likely to be used to bring them home. They're proven reliable vehicles that can do automated docking. In theory a Soyuz can dock uncrewed as well and is also an incredibly safe way to return to Earth (though it is a bit of a roller coaster ride). In practice, given the geopolitical climate, I think it would be... unlikely. By default it's Crew Dragon.
There's also the issue of spacesuit compatibility. During re-entry, the spacesuits themselves are connected to the vehicle's backup life support systems. If the vehicle pressurization fails or if there's other life support problems that don't compromise the rest of the vehicle, they'll still be able to safely land. Starliner and Crew Dragon suits don't talk to each other. Some sort of adaptor hardware would have to be built.
Which brings up the matter of docking port schedules. It's going to be really tricky to finagle schedules and vehicle availability. Docking schedules are typically planned years prior.
So in a nutshell they're completely safe so long as there's no event that requires evacuation of the ISS. And even then they'd probably pile in to the nearest Crew Dragon, try to line the cargo floor with something thick and soft and light, and basically bareback it down to Earth. But because there's a lifeboat rule they're going to want them home quick.
The life support connectors aren't standardized? Kind of shocking
Well if we standardize them, then we can’t charge them $600,000 for repairs
If I was an astronaut or training to be one and saw this shit I would immediately quit, not going to have my ride back to the only habitable planet be contingent on some capitalist fuck for brains operation like Boeing Starliner
The previous commander assigned to this mission DID quit. The given excuse was "personal reasons," but I think we all know the truth now.
I hope Zip Calhoun can still make his hair appointment next week