Moderator removed post
Helium leaks are a standard occurrence on spacecraft (well anywhere really). It’s an extremely small molecule and leaks through anything. Helium leaking is a fact of life. The rate is all that matters.
The bigger issue that is being investigated is a few of the control thrusters were not functioning properly. There are around 28 and 5 had issues. It can operate without all the thrusters, but will likely take more fuel to do so.
It’s a manned flight, so they are super cautious. Currently, they believe that starliner will work but are still investigating/testing.
Clickbait headlines are so annoying. Thanks for the info.
Someone else touched on this too, but part of the reason they’re investigating this now is that the service module isn’t coming back in one piece. It’s not a recoverable part and will burn up on reentry. This is the only/best time to do the testing to learn what the design issues are so it can be fixed in the future.
Design error #1 ... awarding the contract to Boeing.
Perhaps, but at the time it was assumed to be a good choice.
The entrants were 1. Boeing. Has a very strong commercial satellite business and historical experience with manned flight. The manned flight experience was likely overrated considering it was years prior and the loss of knowledge is always underestimated. However, it was more than anyone else.
Blue Origin. Complete newcomer and didn’t compete for final award.
Sierra Nevada. Dreamchaser has been kicking around for a few years (by 2024) but never really went anywhere in the 12 years since the commercial crew award. It has got some money for commercial resupply but has flown a lot less (not yet, but scheduled) than NGs (formerly OrbitalATK) or SpaceX’s option which have been flying regularly for years. It’d be hard pressed to consider it a programmatic success at this point, but that could start to change if the first mission is successful. Was considered a less mature proposal and likely more risky in 2012.
SpaceX. Was also relatively new at this point in time. Their first falcon launch was only 5 years earlier and wouldn’t land a falcon for another 3 years. (Edit: uncrewed Dragon capsule did exist in testing around this time)
ATK. A lot of booster and some satellite experience but limited manned experience. NASA didn’t like the level of technical detail they provided (insufficient). Their space division was good but also relatively small at this point before their merger with Orbital Sciences and NG.
Across the entire industry, manned space flight experience was fairly limited. A lot of the older companies had some experience with components on manned missions but it was all limited in scope and years prior.
At the time, Boeing was considered a fairly safe choice. They were big, successful, and had the most experience. SpaceX turned out to be a very successful company in the 12 years since the award, but back in 2012, one would have had to believe SpaceX was a relatively risky option.
What ever happened to Lockheed-Martin or Raytheon, who were both big names in the 1960s?
They did not compete for this. Lockheed did work for Orion but I’m not sure why they weren’t more involved with commercial crew. It seems like a natural fit but likely NASA wanted to diversify who they were funding. Or LM decided the work to modify Orion to meet the needs was too much.
Raytheon really just doesn’t do a lot of prime work for space. They do a decent number of components, ground control and sensors but not a lot of spacecraft.
i love when someone who's both extremely knowledgable about something and capable of explaining it in digestable terms, actually takes the time to flesh out explanations just like yours
Orion is massive and designed for deep space. It would not have been a good choice for regular crewed missions to the ISS. As for why LM didn’t compete for CCP, I’m sure it comes down to weird contractual requirements and rules since they’re already on the hook for Orion.
Also, RTX and LockMart undoubtedly made many components for it. The aerospace industry tends to do that, because no one company can actually make everything needed.
This guy explains well
Lockheed-martin is probably locked into DoD and Military contracts and can't contractually bid on things like this.
Lockheed does a bunch of stuff for NASA, from nuclear reactors to spacecraft to planes.
Oh I'm sure lol.
My old job we made gyro stabilized camera systems and used Lockheed's gyros. They make some cool shtuff
Pre covid they were bidding on a lunar module for the whole return to gr moon push.
FWIW - I work for a company that does almost exclusively government and primarily Fed space work and there isn't anything you can't bid on as long as you're on the approved vendor list. We always have numerous VA, DARPA, DOJ, IRS, US Army/USAF, Patent Trade Office all just some of the current clients and we bid weekly with different agencies for all sorts of services.
Thank you for providing actual information to contradict my statement!
Appreciate you.
As I understand it, outside of some acronyms requiring higher security clearance levels to work for them, basically look at them all as the same client under Federal govt.
Don't think they can't bid on things but they are very busy updating their current fleet of c130s into C130Js, then of course their Romanian contract of S70s(the export version of the UH60 Blackhawk.) And then they are VERY busy building and sending Ukraine HIMARS and other goodies. They are updating Aegis class systems on JDF ships, working on missile and drone stiff too. Then on the space front they are designing the latest Moon rover vehicle. All in all since that's just whats new in the last 6 months.
Stop, you can't just come here with facts and logic. Just be like everyone else and read the click bait headlines and don't question anything!
/s, if it wasn't obvious
This dude Spaces...
As an employee of a global tool supplier to aerospace companies, let me say thank you for bringing some sound reasoning to this topic.
thank you for this insightful comment
Sierra Nevada. Dreamchaser
I thought "The beer company?", and then I googled it.
Shhhhh you know what happened to the last people that talked bad about Boeing….
You have to remember these contracts where awarded well before the max scandals and what not came to light
To be fair. Boeing wasn't always horrible.
Makes it sound like she’s a whistleblower and now she’s stuck in space orbiting around Earth like in some sci fi movie.
They're casually throwing a xenomorph queen and a shit ton of drones on board
Being whistleblowers tend to have a low life expectancy for some odd reason.
Perhaps she feels safer in orbit?
I don't think this really counts as clickbait. It's factually accurate.
There was an anomalous helium leak during leadup to launch. NASA looked at it, and decided to go ahead with the launch in spite of it, because the leak was low enough level that it was deemed unlikely to impact flight operations.
After launching and getting into space, the helium leak got worse. The helium system here is used as part of the pressurization of the maneuvering thrusters that let them point where they want to go, and as a result of the leaks the flight computer took 25% of its maneuvering jets (7 out of 28) offline due to off-nominal behavior. They intentionally have redundancy in these maneuvering thrusters (because it's a crewed spacecraft), and can carry on the regular mission profile with only 21 thrusters, but losing 1/4 of them is still not a good situation, because they want to still have redundancy if something further could go wrong during the de-orbit burn and maneuvering.
As a result of this, NASA delayed the return of Starliner back to earth first by a few days, then by a week, and now by another as-yet-undetermined length of time. The general cause of these delays was to give time to investigate the thruster issues and determine workarounds to get them back functioning. This, to my understanding, has been mostly successful, and they have all but one or two of the thrusters functioning as expected again, despite the ongoing leak issues. Some of this sort of troubleshooting is always just reprogramming overly-safe limits set in flight computers to allow for continued operation. Unclear what all exactly happened here.
Right now we're in a situation where the most recent delay was due to conflict with planned spacewalk operations (some of which are also being delayed due to unrelated technical issues on the space station). Starliner was originally scheduled to return to earth before these took place, now due to the ongoing delays from the helium leak & thruster investigations, it overlaps with these operations and needs to be delayed further until they are complete.
Overall I'd say that technical issues on spacecraft are fairly par for the course, and nothing that's happened here seems likely to cause a mission failure or loss-of-life. But it's still not great when your much-delayed first crewed launch of a new ship has 1/4 of its thrusters taken offline due to technical faults.
"ignored" doesn't really accurately describe what NASA did IMO. They acknowledged the leak, analysed the effects and made a decision to launch with the leak.
Fair
Factually accurate as long as you ignore "stuck indefinitely". They could come home today if they wanted but it's both safer and more valuable to learn about a few small issues while on orbit, so they're staying up there to gain that knowledge and reduce risk now and in the future.
Also, they’re not just sitting around inside starliner floating through space. They’re at the ISS, which contains adequate food and amenities to sustain them during their wait.
Another missed point in the click bait
Moreso, the reason they're staying there is because many of the issues are in the service module which will be jettisoned prior to re-entry, so in order to evaluate the issues with the module, it has to be done while they're still docked to the ISS.
So they're not "stuck", they're just waiting for authorization to return. They could safely leave at any time should it become necessary.
At worst she will come back in a crew dragon or a soyouz and that's all
Fun fact: healium leaking is what’s used to see if medical devices are properly sealed. You close them in a helium rich environment, then you move them to a helium detector and if you detect helium, your seal isn’t working.
They should make their tanks out of hydrogen since it’s even smaller. /s
I saw an article about the amount of fuel required for the return and even though they have much more than theoretically necessary they’re running simulations to be sure. I wonder if there are concerns about losing more thrusters and they’re running all those combinations.
Well they had one leak, then they lost 5 thrusters once they got up.
Also, what they are investigating has to be done in space because the part will not be coming back to earth where they could check it out here. If they had to they could come back today safely. I hate bad reporting
I also work in the space industry and wanted to add to this.
Based on a very small amount of looking into this, the helium leak is likely not the issue. Helium is used primarily as a pressurizer on spacecraft.
Because it’s inert, it doesn’t burn so it can be used to ensure the pressure in the fuel lines stays high without affecting the fuel. It is not itself fuel.
it’s hard to imagine a helium leak that leads to some but not all thrusters being inoperable. Unless the ones remaining operable are a redundant set, in which case the spacecraft would still be able to operate.
If you have a significant helium leak, it will drop the pressure equally to all the thrusters on that line.
Again, no one, (not even Boeing) would have a single point failure like a helium leak that takes out multiple required thrusters without there being a redundant set. ESPECIALLY for manned flight.
Well put. Several friends/family members have asked me about this issue despite me not working on Starliner lol I basically tell them the same thing you’ve written. Safety of the crew comes above all else in human spaceflight. The crew isn’t stranded up there. They can hangout comfortably on the ISS while the Boeing team reviews and scrutinizes the data they’re getting to characterize the leak and come up with a path forward.
To add to this, of the 5 thrusters that had issues 4 were brought back to operation. Once they leave the ISS the platform with the thrusters will be jettisoned during re-entry so both NASA and Boeing are wanting to collect as much information and data on the thrusters prior to that.
Thanks for that rational explanation. Reddit should remove any wrong and misleading heading. Misleading click bait is getting worse lately.
I heard they figured out 4 of the thrusters, and that as of the last I heard, only 1 is experiencing issues.
Like... Everything leaks in space. Containing something is literally the antithesis of space. And yeah like you said helium leaks through literally everything. Like actually literally.
Mix helium and space and it's really just planning for the leak and bringing extra.
And yeah you're right delays now adays in space flight are always down out of an abundance of caution because risks are just not needed at this current point.
Can confirm. Currently writing a test procedure that involves helium leak testing. It’s it not whether helium has been detected during the test, but rather that it remains under a certain leakage rate threshold.
Great reply. To clarify, gas leaks exist in all cases of significant pressure differential between two systems. There is no perfect seal and it is not unique to spacecraft.
Not a good look for Boeing though, even if the delay is making good use of their 45 day window for troubleshooting.
So pretty much like planes that have "cracks" all over structural component made of carbon fiber composites. Like, yeah this is how this material works, the whole point is how much (or how long/deep for planes)
Plus there is an alternate plan to use space-X's craft for the rescue. But none of the docking stations in iss is free. Their plan b is to un-dock the starliner and use the robotic boom arm to hold the starliner in free space. Once the docking station is free they can use the musk's craft to rescue her, It can be an unmanned or manned(2 crew) flight to rescue her. But even for that maneuver they need the thrusters to work, even if they work for just a few minutes.
Why are thrusters important? Crucial for the re-entry on earth. Thrusters make those small angle adjustments, so as to make the re-entry as frictionless as possible. If the angles are off, the heat generated during re-entry will make the craft a lump of fire ball.
Helium can crash iPhones and iMac's, they discovered this cause MRI techs kept having this problem around the machines
It just seap right into the cpu clock and sets there disabling it
We use helium specifically to find leaks in industry because it’s pretty easy to detect with helium detectors and it’s so damn small it’s almost impossible to contain fully so yes, this person knows their shit this is spot on
Yes and no.
NASA, did not ignore the helium leak. NASA brought the leak to Boeing's attention and Boeing calculated a worst case scenario leak rate. Based on these calculations Boeing and NASA determined that there was enough helium capacity for the mission. The astronauts safely docked with, and are currently on board, the ISS. However, during the ascent 4 additional leaks began.
Currently NASA has multiple teams evaluating the rate and cause of all of these leaks. All of the information is currently pointing to the Starliner not being safe to return. Boeing is strongly objecting to this conclusion, but ultimately the final call is up to NASA.
It is also important to point out that the astronauts are not currently in danger. So long as the Starliner is docked with the ISS the helium tanks are isolated and there are no leaks. Additionally there is a resupply mission to the ISS in August so at the latest the astronauts will be able to return then.
This has the vibe of "oh, it only burned through half the o-ring, so we have a safety factor of 2" and "It made it back safely all those times with tile damage".
I've been saying this all along and have been getting shredded by Boeing fanbois. After all the people Boeing's recent engineering has killed and NASA's record of killing astronauts by political pressure, I can't understand why anyone feels that Starliner is an acceptable risk.
User deleted comment
6d
You my coworker?
Sure am, I heard there are donuts in the break room if you want one.
So I just talked to Ken and we’re all fucked. Apparently we’re not supposed to be on Reddit talking about this shit. Also it was his birthday yesterday and we forgot to sign the card. He’s big mad.
Man fuck Ken. He’s all talk
Oh come on, he's a really nice guy once you get to know him a bit more.
Eh, can't eat the donuts, carbs... people could bring nuts or something sometime.
The Emerald rep came in and dropped off a sampler pack of almonds on Monday and I was gonna grab a smoked chili ones but fucking Brad came in and said that they were actually supposed to bring them to Accuteller, the forensic accounting firm upstairs.
I saw that mf get in the elevator and go down to the garage tho so he definitely just ripped em off.
You trying to cause a stampede?
I work for a contract company in thr aerospace field myself. We shit on all the big names. For good reason.
As someone who works in a corrosion laboratory that does testing for just about anyone who makes parts out of metal, can confirm
I work on the line maintenance on Boeing aircrafts. We have literally 0 fanboys here. Well, to be honest only fanboys we have are for Tupolev and Su's so
You guys are ignoring the fact of how common it is for engineers to tell nasa that something is wrong. That wasn't just one whistleblower that we should have listened to. There were like hundreds of these reports going around, and 99.9% of them turned out to be nothing.
It doesn't make the accident less tragic, but the outcome wasn't as preventable as people think.
Record? Its happened twice in the last 50 years.
Right.
Both accidents were from known safety issues and were never addressed due to political pressure.
Fourteen dead astronauts is a pretty shitty record.
…but but… won’t you think of the shareholders?!
Which is why no one is getting back onboard the starliner. Flight vessel performed nominally but theres no real point in risking a manned descent until they top it off and have had a chance to put an EVA out to inspect the craft.
Boing is strongly objecting to this conclusion
That’s enough for me to know it’s probably not safe
Glad to hear NASA is keeping the contractors in line. Article title is clearly just a stunt to try and farm clicks.
It’d be major news if any astronauts were in serious danger.
As we all know everyone trust boeing
Boeing💀
NASA needs to stop relying on Boeing and SpaceX so much. NASA got america to the moon, multiple times. Fund it and let it do it again.
Boeing build the first stage of the Saturn V. And other contractors built the rest.
NASA has always used contractors to build their rockets.
Boeing should definitly be relied on less though.
Before the purchase by McDonnel Douglas
From what I understand, there are some additional leaks beyond what they had/knew of at launch and some thruster issues but nothing outside of operating tolerance. They would like to figure out what is wrong before coming back because the part with the problems will be destroyed in reentry. They could come back now safely, and even if that was not true or became untrue, they could be brought home in the spacex dragon. So no, not stranded.
Technically true, but misses crucial details. They aren't just floating about in the capsule, they are docked to the ISS. The spacecraft is very likely to be safe for re-entry but they want to work out what went wrong while they are up there because the part that has leaked more than anticipated will be burned up on re-entry. If the spacecraft isn't safe to use for re-entry there's a good chance they can hitch a ride on the SpaceX dragon which is also currently docked to the ISS.
It is highly unlikely they can "hitch a ride". Why would you make that unsubstantiated claim? That Dragon doesn't have seats, suits, or software for 5 people. It is there to take back the same people that rode it up. If the Starliner crew leaves in that Dragon, there are now not enough seats left to evacuate the station if needed. NASA would never tolerate that scenario. They would only pile extra, unsuited, unsecured people on Dragon if there was some disaster on station that required everyone to evacuate immediately.
Someone else commented that they can ride the Cygnus resupply back to Earth. Which means hitchhiking in a Dragon isn't the worst idea in these comments.
Um Cygnus doesn't return. Last time I checked, it burns up on reentry with a load of trash onboard.
Exactly.
Read it in the Guardian article and in my haste falsely thought it was part of an adjacent NASA quote. So yeah, probably bollocks.
I don't think the starliner suits and seats are compatible with dragons systems (the craft are intentionally dissimilar so if one gets grounded the other can continue operating, I know it's possible with soyuz suites and seats (when MS24 i think it was had its cooling system leak the American astronauts transfered their seats to dragon just in case of an emergency while waiting for the replacement soyuz to launch) but worst case scenario they stay on the station remote de orbit starliner and just send up the next crew dragon with 2 astronauts instead of 4 and have them come back with that mission
"Indefinite" is not as scary a term as the headline wants you to think.
It's 'real' in the sense there are multiple helium leaks in the systems. It's not real in the sense of anyone being trapped in space for an indefinite period. Absolute worst case they could send up a spacex flight to bring the extra astronauts back, and bring the starliner back unmanned or just ditch it. The helium is used for pressurizing the fuel supplied to the thrusters. If it lacks enough volume to control the return it will either come down in an unpredictable location, take too long to come down, or lose control while coming down. Even unmanned none of this is desirable. And if there are questions around this reliability of the fuel supply system putting humans inside would be taking an enormous risk.
If money were not an object, and it shouldn't be in this situation, I would say collect a final round of data for troubleshooting the issue, bring starliner home unmanned while you still have as much helium in the system as possible.
And to get the astronauts home send up a spaceX flight to collect them. That should be something that can be scheduled quickly and reliably. Fill the capsule with supplies to replenish what the extra guests consumed during their extended stay, a couple of space suits appropriate to the spaceX systems that will fit the astronauts, and bring them home that way.
This will hurt Boeing's feelings and their image, but this is a low item on the list of priorities. Boeing is capable of fixing this, but at this point the options are limited and the risks are unknown. If the Starliner returns perfectly then Boeing's predictions are validated which helps recover some of the lost reputation as well.
Hey, I've met her very briefly. I was working at SpaceX she and Bob Behnken were there. I'm not sure if it was just a photo-shoot and tour or if they were actually reviewing anything. I was working on the life support system for the dragon crew capsule. I didn't get talk much, but what I remember is that she asked about my work and I said I was working on the gas separator, and she mentioned with a smile that it can really start to smell in a space capsule.
Sunita did an ISS tour that I watch multiple times a year. I hope all goes well. She is a straight up legend.
I know I shouldn’t expect better in r/facepalm, but the number of comments bashing Sunita Williams’ appearance is really disappointing.
Right? She’s probably smarter and more successful than every commenter here combined, but god forbid they don’t find her aesthetically pleasing. BTW love your username
Every person who spent their valuable time and energy making fun of her, just know she has no idea you exist and you’ll never cross her mind once in her entire lifetime. You really have to value your own time so poorly.
Knowing absolutely nothing about her, I thought it was photoshopped.
It’s Reddit, you shouldn’t expect better anywhere on here
I would rather be an astronaut with a chin than some nobody commenting on it.
I’m not an astronaut and I don’t have a chin. She’s got it all.
Hey I have mad respect for that chin
This woman is 85% chin
Or the "Do you see and old woman or younger woman" optical illusion
The Crimson Chin just doesn't get any respect anymore.
Although the headline is exaggerated, Boeing has every confidence that Williams can ride back to Earth on her broom.
This is what I was looking for
Finally, someone said something.
And 100% more of an astronaut that everyone commenting
From what I've read elsewhere, the 'indefinite' time is so they can investigate what went wrong because another component also had issues, and it's planned to be jettisoned and burn up on entry which will make further investigative efforts impossible. The crew can return at any time but the current plan is to stay and investigate until either resources become an issue(sometime in August) or they finish the investigation. So it's indefinite as in undefined, not indefinite as in forever.
This is not real. As mentioned before, helium leaks are common. There was an anomaly with the reaction control system firing in unexpected combinations to achieve the desired maneuvering. Both of these items are in the service module. This has no impact on the ability of the spacecraft to maneuver and reenter safely. The reason for the delay is that during the reentry, the service module is jettisoned and burns up in the atmosphere. At that point the engineering team will no longer be able to get any more data on the anomalous behavior. So the return is delayed to diagnose as much as possible before the hardware is destroyed.
They are in no way stranded, and the issues they are diagnosing have no impact on the ability to return in the capsule.
As others mentioned, they're safely at the station and worst case scenario is they find an alternate ride home later on.
But I think what many headlines and people are missing is the fact this whole mission was meant to discover issues like this. It's a flight test, with two highly experienced test pilots. Their purpose was to give the capsule a test flight and discover any issues like this before an actual mission using starliner happens. This is the equivalent mission of demo 2 with Bob and Doug. So yeah they may or may not be able to return in starliner, but ultimately that was kinda the whole point of doing this mission. Them being able to do other work on the ISS is just a bonus because they're there and have the time. Maximize their time there.
Point being that headlines make it seem like something horrible happened, and that they were expecting for everything to go flawlessly. When in reality their entire mission was to see if something like this would happen so that it can be fixed for the actual missions later.
I wouldn’t set foot on a pedalo made by Boeing
I love how everyone in here is a rocket scientist
Not going to lie…I thought the helium leak did that to her.
I was hoping to god I didn't have to write this
Sigh, must be nice. It's terrible down here.
If there were one thing I could wish for, it would be accurate titles on all posts, all platforms.
It's time for Boeing to be shut down completely
Planes randomly missing parts, whistleblowers "mysteriously" dying, and 2 astronauts stranded in space after Boeing knew about the issues for years?
OH SHIIIIIIIIIIIZZZZZ, NASA, you just whistleblew Boeing, you know what happens now :-(
Just a heads up guys, indefinite does not mean forever. It means they just arent sure when.
Wow, so much hate in here. This person is in space. While all of us are on the ground. Making fun of a chin. Holy crap. I'd rather be a person that was on the Challenger or Colombia than to be sitting here. These people have all been blessed to part of the greatest human achievements in our entire history and you people are making fun of a chin.
I will need more than a picture with a one sided statement to be convinced
It’s because Boeing is now a cost cutting firm.
Reckon it was Boeing that made the ship Mark Watney used in the Martian. The doors and windows did come off very easily.
The front’s not supposed to fall off.
I want to make that perfectly clear.
"NASA wants more time to analyze problems in the spacecraft's propulsion system, which is used to maneuver in flight. The propulsion system is attached to the capsule, but it doesn’t come back to Earth for inspection. It is ditched during reentry and burns up."
Essentially there's nothing stopping them from coming back but because coming back also means jettisoning the propulsion system they placed the return trip on hold until they can gather more data from it.
They did not ignore it, they determined the risk was well within mission parameters. The testing being done in space is on parts that will be damaged/jettisoned on reentry, thus they are staying in space to get as much data as possible to figure out the issue. For what I hear the capsule could return anytime.
Helium is an inert gas, what does nasa use it for?
Funny voices.
This is blown out of proportion and taken out of context.
Starliner can return anytime it wanted, it has more than 70 hours of helium stored and it only needs 7 hours to return. They are not stuck by any means.
NASA decides for them to stay longer for two reason, one this is a test flight after all and Starliner ejects the service module before reentry, which is where the helium tanks are located. So if Starliner returns now there will be no physical piece NASA and Boeing can study.
Second it never hurts to have extra crew on the ISS, it can sustain 13 people for a short period and now it only has 9. Extra people meant more manpower to perform experiment, which is the whole purpose of ISS to begin with.
It’s real but needs more context. It’s stuck for now until they assess how they’re gonna deal with it. It’s in the service module part that will get jettisoned on rentry.
The corporation who tried to hide fatal flaws in its airplanes is struggling with space exploration??
Unfortunately it’s real
https://amp.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/jun/26/boeing-starliner-astronauts
The wicked witch of the East is at NASA?
Sensationalist headline. They are not ‘stuck in space’. WTF?
Space X is going to have to rescue Boeings astronauts.
Sorry but that is the most incredible chin I’ve seen since Giga Chad
She got a strong chin.
God I'm sick of seeing "there stuck"
No, they're not.
Boeing and NASA have agreed to take additional time to study the data from the leaks to try and find more of a root cause. This specific Starliner is rated for up to a 45 day mission. They have plenty of margin to play with so they are using it. This is a test flight and issues popping up is expected.
They could bring them down now if they wanted, but there's no rush.
There is missing context. The Starliner crew, flight commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore and flight pilot Sunita "Suni" Williams, launched on June 5th for an 8 day mission, but are now approaching being in space for a month. However, both are safe and currently on the International Space Station along with the Starliner capsule itself docked to the ISS.
There is not a set date yet as to when they will be returning Earthside. NASA and Boeing are taking their time to get the problem fixed. There is no need to rush to get them home because there are plenty of supplies on the station right now and the ISS schedule is pretty light for the next couple months.
Mewing final boss
Welcome to Chincinnati.
Helium leak is not that big of deal, the fact it’s manufactured by Boeing is definitely a big deal.
Is it just me or does her chin look photocopied to be bigger? Because I've seen other pictures and it doesn't normally look that big
Edit: photoshopped, thanks simonion8
Photocopied?!
Why wouldn't it be real? They ignored some O-rings once and fucking blew up a whole team of astronauts on live television.
It was real when foam damaged the heat shields on Columbia, and they blew up. Shit happens.
Was also real when the Apollo 1 crew got cooked during a systems test because of some faulty wiring.
A high school teacher once told my class that inhaling helium can lead to (not just a funny voice but) urinary incontinence. I still don’t know if this is true or not. Something tells me this was an isolated incident, that she made a “fact”…
She was trying to get you to stop wasting her helium supply.
Looks like Rush’s Geddy Lee’s Grandmother
If she could sue them she’d end up with a huge manchin
Are we not going to talk about her chin, really? As a dude with no chin this chick got a double dose lol
Careful the Boeing hit squad will do their thing.
No
So the iss has one less port to use because shareholders. What happens if it's just a part of the station now? Can't depart, so do they eject it or start plugging into it for whatever? What if the new surprise attachment destabilizes it somehow?
Not surprised. Remember Challenger disaster?
Looks like Geddy Lee in space
I thought this was Nikki Haley for a min.
Nikki Haley really looks like shit, eh?
I'm sure the woman shown is perfectly respectable, but I can't ignore the fact that she's just a green skin tone away from being the Wicked Witch of the West.
She has Alf DNA. 100% guarenteed.
That chin though
She looks like the wild witch of the west
No, that chin!
Big Wicket Witch of the West vibes in that photo
So is she stuck in space until she dies ?
On brand for Boeing.
Boeing? OP you have a death wish, don't you?
Wait Boeing is involved and something when wrong? No way.
I can't stand the endless clickbait this matter has generated. The mission would not have gone through if there was even a small doubt about the safety of the spacecraft. Helium leaks are super common. Hell oxygen leaks are common on the ISS, like the actual air they breathe. No one's stuck there. The ISS is regularly resupplied and people can stay there indefinitely. If the need arises they can also leave with a Soyuz craft that's always docked there. There is no spacecraft or new technology that has worked perfectly from the first try. Spaceflight is super complex, the starliner took a lot of testing to get to this point and it will take a lot more to further refine it.
Supervillain origin story in the making.
Jokes apart, I hope she is alright and will land safely soon.
This fail was brought to you by Boeing
Does she melt when water is thrown at her? But yeah seriously, awful stuff.
Space X to the rescue.
i swear, Elon has to do everything!
Growing up and in my early adult years I was really against big government and regulatory agencies. My thought process was that the free market will work itself out with in-class competition and survival of the most fit/best companies.
However, as I have aged I realize that in general human beings cannot be trusted to do the right thing and that we are a species that will always take shortcuts for the easiest option that will maximize profit. Of course there are good people out there and I respect them tremendously, but if everyone is not acting like a “good person”, then we need to be governed and we need regulatory watchdogs to ensure we are doing the right thing. This and all of Boeing’s other mishaps are a great example of this. Other examples include CO2 emissions by countries lying about compliance with standards, CFC production and ozone layer destruction by countries lying about compliance, and on and on…
What, that in the fields of engineering and science women are ignored?
It’s crazy that the truth is way more interesting but they went with click bait instead
for one thing, if you tell an astronaut, “well, we’re gonna need you to stay in space for a few more months than expected” they’re gonna be elated. I’ve never heard an interview with anyone who’s been to space who didn’t want to go back.
additionally, the component they want more data on is the service module, which is separated from the capsule before re-entry and burns up. if they want data from the service module, they need to get it before the astronauts come back, because the module cannot be recovered.
Bye Boeing it’s so over… the trust is gone.
Zoom in on the chin only, turn your phone sideways... Does that look like a boob to you? Haha
Is Geddy Lee in the space program?
Welp, someone's gonna have to " suddenly die " of curious circumstances 🤷♂️ #boeing
If it’s boeing it’s not going
When did Geddy Lee become an astronaut is my question
TBF they probably thought that the crew was just joking when they heard “Houston we have a problem “ in a high pitched funny voice.
The capsule could likely serve as an emergency escape craft as is, but even if bad comes to worse and its not flyable, let not forget that they would simply launch a Dragon up to get them if needed. They can resupply them with no issue with un-crewed dragon launches, so they can just as easily send a crew capsule up when they get one ready.
Comments that are uncivil, racist, misogynistic, misandrist, or contain political name calling will be removed and the poster subject to ban at moderators discretion.
Help us make this a better community by becoming familiar with the rules.
Report any suspicious users to the mods of this subreddit using Modmail here or Reddit site admins here . All reports to Modmail should include evidence such as screenshots or any other relevant information.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.