NASA claims that SpaceX will sail its two appointed team expeditions to the International Space Station in 2025 using its confirmed Dragon capsules.  ,
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” The scheduling and design of Starliner’s next trip will be determined when a better knowledge of Boeing’s route to system certification is established”, NASA said in a statement on Tuesday. Additionally, the organization stated that it “is keeping options on the table for how best to achieve method documentation, including opportunities for a possible Starliner journey in 2025.”
This is terrible news for Boeing. What we are n’t sure of yet is how awful. Let me let you know what I mean by what has been wrong with Boeing and Starliner thus much, to show you what I mean.
In 2011, NASA launched the Commercial Crew Program to locate an American alternative for the Russian Soyuz space capsules that our ISS crews would need to use after the Space Shuttle ship retired. Despite administrative opposition to employ an established company, NASA was awarded two deals: paying Boeing$ 4.2 billion to build Starliner and paying SpaceX$ 2.6 billion for Dragon Crew.
Before the network’s pensions in 2030, NASA had planned for 12 guarded expeditions to the ISS, with six going to Boeing and SpaceX. SpaceX began conducting manned Dragon Crew missions in 2020 after some delays, and NASA contracted them for the entirety of the six missions ‘ flights ( heh ). Boeing’s Starliner has yet to finish a second unmanned mission to the ISS, despite NASA’s approval of three of its six expeditions.
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The various three planes, which somebody had anticipated do eventually go to Boeing, are still, to be expected, up in the air.
Starliner’s first unmanned flight test, Orbital Flight Test-1 ( OFT-1 ) failed in 2019. OFT-2 succeeded in 2022, setting the stage for Crew Flight Test ( CFT ) to ISS earlier this year. That vision had so many oddities that NASA was hesitant to fly Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams residence on Starliner. They’re stranded on ISS until SpaceX’s half-empty Crew-9 vision returns them home in February. An eight-day be turned into eight times.
Starliner did manage to safely return to Earth despite being autonomous, despite having a number of oddities during the return journey. NASA is attempting to decide whether to proceed and grant Starliner certification for spaceflight, or whether CFT-2 with another pair of ( nervous ) astronauts will be required. explorers.  ,
Fixed-price treaties were used to develop both crewed missions and aircraft. Boeing has lost an estimated$ 1.6 billion on Starliner. OFT-2 was paid for by Boeing, no us citizens, and therefore had CFT-2, may NASA deem it necessary.
So where does that left Boeing?
NASA’s statement did n’t make it clear whether Starliner’s extra two flights next year are actually extra or if they’re previously contracted missions that got bumped up pending Starliner’s fate.
If it’s the former, that means Boeing may also get arrangements for those three existing operations. If it’s the past, that means there’s only one possible trip gambling left for Starliner.
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$ 4.2 billion in taxpayer money plus another$ 90 million for the one mission… that’s an awful lot of money for one space capsule to perform one flight. If there’s just one mission left available to Boeing— which they still might lose to SpaceX , — I just do n’t see a way forward from here for Starliner.
Does people?
My friend and colleague Chris Queen in our PJ Media Slack network, Chris Queen, questioned me in the background:” Would the Germans or the Japanese have a term for being shocked and no shocked at the same time”?
Never that I know of, but I might be able to assist in that.
Schockiertnichtschockiert, someone?
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