NASA astronauts can't wear Boeing Starliner spacesuits in SpaceX's Dragon. Here's why

[Admin]

NASA's Starliner astronauts will temporarily have an emergency spot available on a SpaceX Crew Dragon, but they can't wear spacesuits there. That will change in a few weeks.

NASA astronauts can't wear Boeing Starliner spacesuits in SpaceX's Dragon. Here's why : Read more

 

[SubSailor]

NASA's Starliner astronauts will temporarily have an emergency spot available on a SpaceX Crew Dragon, but they can't wear spacesuits there. That will change in a few weeks.

NASA astronauts can't wear Boeing Starliner spacesuits in SpaceX's Dragon. Here's why : Read more

So it took until the next to last paragraph to admit there is only one Astronaut (Butch) without a SpaceX suit, instead of two that most of this story is about.

 

[KateP2016]

All American spacesuits, regardless of the spacecraft, should have universal connections, so they can work with each craft.

 

[Classical Motion]

Or at least some adapters.

 

[KateP2016]

Or at least some adapters.

Exactly.

 

[Dr. AB]

A bit of drama for nothing. They can comfortably come back in their underwear if they want. The suits only protect in the event of an uncomanded depressurization of the spacecraft, an event which is less likely than far more serious untoward events which would destroy the entire ship. Space X Dragon is like a 5 Star Hotel. It even has AC! (Boeing in contrast is more like Motel 6...but Boeing will leave the light on for you. Just bring your own helium.)

I tell you. They just don't make spacecraft like they used to. I remember getting my first used one back in the day after I finished college. Only 500 bucks. I put many light-years on the old thing. Only problem was a bad clutch. It eventually rusted out during a trip to a distant galaxy.

 

[Koren]

Admittedly I'm unfamiliar with any problem it would cause, but could they not just load empty suits onto the ship sent out to rescue them and let the astronauts get changed? It seems like a pretty simple solution, but I suppose there are complications I'm unfamiliar with.

 

[vadertime]

Honestly. How is it that the premier space agency in the Universe doesn't have a standard spacesuit. Really?
Each spacessuit is custom configured for the manufacturers spacecraft. Maybe NASA should have designed or RFP'd for a standard spacesuit that would work with any spacecraft. Seriously folks, get your act together. Standarization. Our nation was built on that.

 

[Cisventure Astronot]

All American spacesuits, regardless of the spacecraft, should have universal connections, so they can work with each craft.

Spacesuits have different capabilities. IIRC, The ACES is much more capable than SpaceX's suit, Which is more reliant on the capsule. So using the same connector would likely limit the spacesuit's and capsule's architectures. If we did that, then people would probably be complaining about a forty-year-old standard limiting innovation.

p.s. Welcome to the Space.com forums.

---

Honestly. How is it that the premier space agency in the Universe doesn't have a standard spacesuit. Really?
Each spacessuit is custom configured for the manufacturers spacecraft. Maybe NASA should have designed or RFP'd for a standard spacesuit that would work with any spacecraft. Seriously folks, get your act together. Standarization. Our nation was built on that.

NASA wants dissimilar redundancy. And specialization has its upsides.

 

[Cisventure Astronot]

Admittedly I'm unfamiliar with any problem it would cause, but could they not just load empty suits onto the ship sent out to rescue them and let the astronauts get changed? It seems like a pretty simple solution, but I suppose there are complications I'm unfamiliar with.

Isn't that the plan?

Crew-9, the next SpaceX astronaut mission for NASA… will launch with only two astronauts, instead of the planned four, to make room for Williams and Wilmore. One spacesuit will also be shipped to the ISS sized for Wilmore, as Williams can use a SpaceX suit on board ISS.

p.s. Welcome to the Space.com forums.

 

[JPL_ACE]

NASA's Starliner astronauts will temporarily have an emergency spot available on a SpaceX Crew Dragon, but they can't wear spacesuits there. That will change in a few weeks.

NASA astronauts can't wear Boeing Starliner spacesuits in SpaceX's Dragon. Here's why : Read more

A bad decision by NASA to allow each craft to have separate spacesuits. When more carriers start (like Siera) it will be a mess. Much more efficient to make them interconnect. Also, try to make them work in capsules, spacewalks, and eventually deep (radiation-filled) space.

 

[JPL_ACE]

All American spacesuits, regardless of the spacecraft, should have universal connections, so they can work with each craft.

I fully agree. It is actually a safety issue as it is too complex and costly to keep many suits for many people and many spaceships. Temporarily they need a minimum life support suit that fits all (but not well), IMO.

 

[Torbjorn Larsson]

I hope ISS will survive (this and possible future) Starliner.

A bit of drama for nothing.

That was what they hoped the known thruster and helium problems would be before launching. II's not "nothing", it means NASA will have to lower their preferred security standards because of a certain "B" company.

So it took until the next to last paragraph to admit there is only one Astronaut (Butch) without a SpaceX suit, instead of two that most of this story is about.

It's the general problem, caused by that one lacking spacesuit triggers the problem.

It is actually a safety issue as it is too complex and costly to keep many suits for many people and many spaceships. Temporarily they need a minimum life support suit that fits all (but not well), IMO.

They can't make spacesuits that fits all persons and all environments, not as yet in any case. A minimum set of survival suits would be nice, and maybe they can agree on such. But seeing how long it took to agree on a universal docking adapter, which still isn't implemented everywhere, it will take years.

Standarization. Our nation was built on that.

I had to laugh at that. During my two years of working in US I realized it was the least standardized nation I had encountered.

Typically you didn't know which way to turn a spigot and since US hadn't (hasn't?) discovered one hand maneuvering you couldn't know which one you had to turn. (They were often mislabeled, so "cold" was "hot" et cetera.) And they didn't turn in a consistent direction, the pairs could turn one way, the other, or both.

Electric outlets were (are?) unsafe. "In North America, a 250V outlet would be connected to two live legs, each having 125V potential with reference to ground. The European system has one live leg carrying 230V with reference to ground, a neutral (the system ground), and a safety ground."

And so on. I vividly remember that I had to seal around the water lines to my apartment since they were just stuck through wall holes behind a cover, letting cockroaches in. Standardization. schmandardization.

The United States gained power from its standardization strength in industry consortia that dominate some technical domains such as internet protocol standard-setting. European actors derived power from Europe’s traditional stronghold in formal organizations that develop international standards such as the International Standardization Organization (ISO) or the International Electrotechnical Committee (IEC).

The US government’s new standardization strategy follows that of the European Commission from February 2022.

https://dgap.org/en/research/publications/geopolitics-technical-standardization

 

[Cisventure Astronot]

I had to laugh at that. During my two years of working in US I realized it was the least standardized nation I had encountered.

I don't know what industry you work in, but 2 years isn't really enough time to judge a massive and diverse country. Imagine if someone said this about the EU.

Typically you didn't know which way to turn a spigot and since US hadn't (hasn't?) discovered one hand maneuvering you couldn't know which one you had to turn. (They were often mislabeled, so "cold" was "hot" et cetera.) And they didn't turn in a consistent direction, the pairs could turn one way, the other, or both.

If they standardized this, would it change how the USA was (figuratively) built? I assume @vadertime was talking about important things, like the space program.

Electric outlets were (are?) unsafe. "In North America, a 250V outlet would be connected to two live legs, each having 125V potential with reference to ground. The European system has one live leg carrying 230V with reference to ground, a neutral (the system ground), and a safety ground."

Maybe not all the USA's standards are better than everyone else's, but that has nothing to do with how standardized the USA is.

And so on. I vividly remember that I had to seal around the water lines to my apartment since they were just stuck through wall holes behind a cover, letting cockroaches in. Standardization. schmandardization.

https://dgap.org/en/research/publications/geopolitics-technical-standardization

Following others standards doesn't mean the USA isn't standardized.

For the sake of argument, let's assume the USA is one of the least standardized nations in human history. Even if that's the case, we could still have been built on standardization.

I would enjoy hearing about the world's best engineering standards, but this feels off-topic. /gen

 

[Ken Fabian]

It isn't rocket science. What were they thinking?

 

[NasaSmasa]

So I notice that this article is complete garbage; it never once states "why" they can't wear the suits, and actually states that nothing is literally preventing them from wearing them since it basically says they could ride home in their underwear in the "cargo bay".

This entire scenario of events is incredibly ridiculous and frankly sounds conjured up for the purpose of generating public interest.

 

[Ben Huset]

No labeled images of the space suit connectors ????
Is there ITAR issues ???

 

[KateP2016]

So I notice that this article is complete garbage; it never once states "why" they can't wear the suits, and actually states that nothing is literally preventing them from wearing them since it basically says they could ride home in their underwear in the "cargo bay".

This entire scenario of events is incredibly ridiculous and frankly sounds conjured up for the purpose of generating public interest.

Because the suits are particular to each spacecraft. I think the Starliner suit is more like a traditional spacesuit, while the SpaceX suit was specially designed from the ground up to be an attention grabber.