Well, looks like they could have come back in it after all. I understand the caution, though.

I have historically been a big Boeing fan. They've made some awesome stuff over the years, and I hope their recent black eyes with stuff like this and the 737 Max are taken to heart and cause them to clean up their act. We need American aerospace companies to make the best stuff in the world.

quote:

Originally posted by kkina:
Not a Boeing fan, eh?

Am a Boeing fan, well was.
Until they let idiots run the company and have take twice the funds from the government and have garbage to show for it.

Boeing- overbudget and still not delivered.
Gotta prop up those retirement packages and shareholder dividends first you know!

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

“NASA lavished praise on Boeing during a post-flight press conference where representatives from the company were conspicuously absent.

“It was a bullseye landing,” said Steve Stich, program manager for NASA’s commercial crew program. “The entry in particular has been darn near flawless.”

Still, he acknowledged that certain new issues had come to light, including the failure of a new thruster and the temporary loss of the guidance system.“

Fortune - Boeing Starliner returns to Earth without a crew as NASA flags new issues

Despite all the issues, I'm glad the Starliner came back in one piece and we can learn what went wrong with the failed systems.

Too soon we forget the hiccups and disasters along the way in the space program. Already we are embracing the seemingly effortless success of Space X.

I'm hoping we learn a bunch and get back to regular intervals of journeys and discoveries.

quote:

Gotta prop up those retirement packages and shareholder dividends first you know!

I guess I'm a Boeing fan; after all my wife draws a bi-weekly paycheck from them. But that's been the rub. I hear first-hand about all of the managerial crap the higher ups do to pander to the whims of Wall Street. Bring in so-called executive "rockstars" from other companies that DON'T have a clue about what it takes to make an airplane or a missile defense system. Outsource operational back-of-the house white collar work and cut jobs, only to find out that the offshore contractors are absolute crap that don't give a rat's ass about the needs of a penny-pinching American company that happens to make airplanes, when other Western companies are willing to offer far better contracts--including other American companies--for the same kinds of services.

Add in the realization that Boeing is an entrenched, old-school kind of tech company that lacks the dynamics and energy of younger technology firms, so keeping talented new hires is an omnipresent problem that Boeing so far has had little success at figuring out. Ironically, programs like the Starliner are supposed to be the sorts of projects that were marketed to keep young talent in the company.

Anyone get the feeling they're more frightened for their lives now than they were when they were stuck in space?

quote:

Originally posted by kkina:
Not a Boeing fan, eh?

I am a fan. They have a large portfolio of products, commercial and military, and there are problems on the commercial side that will be addressed.

On this event, it was the first flight and tons of telemetry is available. No one would die and when there's no risk of injury or death, sometimes it's just fun to see stuff blown up.

I'm mean do you watch NASCAR because you like Skittles colors or do you watch in anticipation of a crash? Without crashes, NASCAR is boring.

I guess I am now, too. However, was not growing up, not when you Dad worked for "Old Man Douglas". Back then, Boeing was "Brand X". Dad used to call the early 737s "runway vacuums" due to how low the engine nacelles were hung.

quote:

Originally posted by Flashlightboy:

quote:

Originally posted by kkina:
Not a Boeing fan, eh?

I am a fan. They have a large portfolio of products, commercial and military, and there are problems on the commercial side that will be addressed.

On this event, it was the first flight and tons of telemetry is available. No one would die and when there's no risk of injury or death, sometimes it's just fun to see stuff blown up.

I'm mean do you watch NASCAR because you like Skittles colors or do you watch in anticipation of a crash? Without crashes, NASCAR is boring.

Gotcha. A blowing-stuff-up-real-good deal.

(Btw, I actually did use to watch races to see good driving, hated seeing crashes. Honest!)

quote:

Originally posted by cas:
Anyone get the feeling they're more frightened for their lives now than they were when they were stuck in space?

Aren't the astronauts still stuck on the space station? The Starliner came back unmanned, right?

Yes and yes. They're still up there and scheduled to hitch a ride home on a Space-X flight in February. Probably NOT how they planned to spend their holidays this year.

At any rate, congrats to NASA and Boeing for getting it back down in one piece.

quote:

Originally posted by Paten:

quote:

Originally posted by cas:
Anyone get the feeling they're more frightened for their lives now than they were when they were stuck in space?

Aren't the astronauts still stuck on the space station? The Starliner came back unmanned, right?

Astronauts stuck there until Feb 2025, and spacecraft landed intact as intended.

quote:

Originally posted by Paten:
Aren't the astronauts still stuck on the space station? The Starliner came back unmanned, right?

There’s two capsules docked at the ISS at the moment. That’s a combined seven seats available for the nine people on the station. Technically, no individual is stuck ATM unless the ISS needs to be evacuated. It’ll be the end of musical chairs when the Dragon crew 9 capsule arrives with two empty seats in October.

I'm kind of hoping that cas chimes in and explains what his comment meant.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:

There’s two capsules docked at the ISS at the moment. That’s a combined seven seats available for the nine people on the station. Technically, no individual is stuck ATM unless the ISS needs to be evacuated.

Well, I would argue that there ARE 2 people 'stuck' in space on ISS. If there is a massive coronal mass ejection that disables ISS, a bad fire, a debris strike, or literally hundreds of other scenarios that could make ISS incapable of sustaining life, then only 7 people can Evac...

Meaning, they ALL can't return to Earth if the need arises. That, to me, is the definition of 'stuck.'

Now, ISS is FAR more safe and reliable than the old Rusky Mir station (that thing was a clown show/death trap), but space remains an extremely dangerous environment.

At least Boeing is good at:

Door plugs

Turbines

Space capsules

Diversity!

Given the billions we taxpayers have paid Boeing for this royal fuckup, hell no I'm not a fan!

...and the "burn-up on re-entry" category has grown to double digits. It's down people! On the ground! In one piece! I swear!

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
Perfect landing.

Well, except for the part about it being empty…

quote:

Originally posted by Expert308:
Yes and yes. They're still up there and scheduled to hitch a ride home on a Space-X flight in February. Probably NOT how they planned to spend their holidays this year…

But just think about that big OT check!

quote:

Originally posted by Hound Dog:

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:

There’s two capsules docked at the ISS at the moment. That’s a combined seven seats available for the nine people on the station. Technically, no individual is stuck ATM unless the ISS needs to be evacuated.

Well, I would argue that there ARE 2 people 'stuck' in space on ISS. If there is a massive coronal mass ejection that disables ISS, a bad fire, a debris strike, or literally hundreds of other scenarios that could make ISS incapable of sustaining life, then only 7 people can Evac...

Meaning, they ALL can't return to Earth if the need arises. That, to me, is the definition of 'stuck.'

That’s what I said: "unless the ISS needs to be evacuated“?