Boeing defends Starliner space capsule ground tests after problematic debut flight

Jan 13, 2020
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Part of me wants to be very judgmental of Boeing not to even have done the software testing before launch. (Boggles the mind), but going forward I gotta just hope they get it together next time. growing up watching Gemini launches-they all made it to orbit.
 

JTG

Dec 22, 2019
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"Boeing engineers thought that it would be "more logical to break the mission phases into chunks and do a lot of testing in those smaller chunks," he said. "When you do a single run from launch to docking, that's a 25-plus hour single run on the computer." "

That's a dubious statement at best. Boeing Engineers didn't think it was more logical to break up the testing - sounds more like upper management thought it would be more financially viable.

Two things wrong with breaking it up into "smaller chunks".

1. Who checks for overall integration between the "smaller chunks"? When simulated conditions are fragmented, this doesn't follow the actual flight environment.

2. By testing through "smaller chunks", Boeing isn't looking at problematic issues that may arise early on in any portion of the launch/flight segments. Using a fragmented approach, how can engineers determine anomalies that may CASCADE throughout the entire flight profile? "Smaller chunks" doesn't fit the tried and true approach of test as you fly and fly as you test. What Boeing is doing is spend as little as possible because extra testing to them has little value if their narrow-minded thinking perceives it as such.

Let's see if Boeing business executives think it was worth bypassing a 25-plus hour single run on a computer. It's time to bring back Boeing Engineers into the decision-making process, not the shills for upper management execs.
 
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