Cable Forum - View Single Post

**Chris** · 07-09-2024, 23:45

In the event, all its manoeuvring thrusters worked correctly on the return leg. NASA had assessed a 95% chance of mission success, but a 1-in-50 failure rate is unacceptable on a crewed flight. By the end of the programme, the Space Shuttle’s failure rate was 1 in 68. They don’t like those odds in Houston and have become highly sceptical of engineers blithely telling them everything will be fine, especially when those engineers work for third party contractors.

Boeing seems to have been left with some major butthurt though. They refused to send anyone to the post-flight press conference and in their press statement they were almost non-committal about even continuing to develop Starliner. I can see NASA wanting to continue it because the Commercial Crew Programme was meant to build in resilience and const effectiveness which ideally means more than one supplier. But Boeing is starting to lose money hand over fist on Starliner and if they suspect rectifying its persistent problems is going to leave them further out of pocket they may want to cut and run.

NASA might yet be rescued by Sierra Nevada Corp’s Dream Chaser space plane which it continued to develop despite NASA dumping it out of the commercial crew programme. The vehicle has been developed as a robot cargo vessel and should start visiting the ISS later this year. SNC is continuing to develop a crewed version of the vehicle.

07-09-2024, 23:45	#5
Chris Trollsplatter Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: North of Watford Services: Humane elimination of all common Internet pests Posts: 38,207	Re: It’s a Boeing … you ain’t going In the event, all its manoeuvring thrusters worked correctly on the return leg. NASA had assessed a 95% chance of mission success, but a 1-in-50 failure rate is unacceptable on a crewed flight. By the end of the programme, the Space Shuttle’s failure rate was 1 in 68. They don’t like those odds in Houston and have become highly sceptical of engineers blithely telling them everything will be fine, especially when those engineers work for third party contractors. Boeing seems to have been left with some major butthurt though. They refused to send anyone to the post-flight press conference and in their press statement they were almost non-committal about even continuing to develop Starliner. I can see NASA wanting to continue it because the Commercial Crew Programme was meant to build in resilience and const effectiveness which ideally means more than one supplier. But Boeing is starting to lose money hand over fist on Starliner and if they suspect rectifying its persistent problems is going to leave them further out of pocket they may want to cut and run. NASA might yet be rescued by Sierra Nevada Corp’s Dream Chaser space plane which it continued to develop despite NASA dumping it out of the commercial crew programme. The vehicle has been developed as a robot cargo vessel and should start visiting the ISS later this year. SNC is continuing to develop a crewed version of the vehicle.