Will Boeing Starliner issues delay its 1st long-duration astronaut flight? It’s too soon to tell.

[Admin]

All issues encountered during the first astronaut mission of Boeing's Starliner capsule must be addressed before the vehicle is certified for long-duration crewed flights.

Will Boeing Starliner issues delay its 1st long-duration astronaut flight? It’s too soon to tell. : Read more

 

[Unclear Engineer]

Boeing Starliner thruster problems are not new - they had problems with the thrusters on the previous flight, too. Now there is talk about limiting the use of the thrusters rather than fixing them. That seems like an admission of inadequate design.

And then there is this: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0666zr4010o "Criminal charges recommended against Boeing." That has to do with aircraft, not spacecraft, but it is a charge that Boeing has a safety culture problem that was not adequately addressed after they agreed to do so to avoid prosecution for the two 737 Max crashes. There is no reason to believe that Boeing has a different "culture" in its space craft operations.

I understand that NASA is hesitant to lose Boeing as a contractor. But, realistically, going with the "established" vendor instead of the "startup" vendor has not proven to be the best choice. SpaceX has tremendously out-performed Boeing. How much better off today would NASA be is they had put the money into Sierra Space and Dream Chaser instead of Starllner several years ago?

I still think that a space taxi like Dream Chaser is the future. Launched vertically with a reusable booster and landing on a runway like an airplane just makes more sense from economic and convenience factors, not to mention safety factors.