Originally published at: NASA says Starliner crew to return with SpaceX - Boing Boing
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I’m not sure I trust SpaceX any more than I do Boeing right now, but this seems like the right call.
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I wonder if Butch and Suni are like “YEAH! We get to hang out in space for longer!” Or if it’s like when you mentally plan for a 4 hour drive, and then because of traffic and construction, it turns into 8 hours and you’re ready to climb the walls at hour 7.
In any event, good call; better safe than sorry. And I truly wish Boeing well in sorting out their corporate culture problems soon.
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I trust EM to milk the publicity from this to distract the zentrumists from his fascism. SpaceX will get them back and we will never hear the end of it.
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He’ll get to be the hero he wanted to be with the boys in the cave in Thailand.
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I feel like Boeing had MBAs find and destroy all quality there, but SpaceX might still have some gear designed by actual engineers while Musk’s poisonous attention was elsewhere. 
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I’d expect they’re really disappointed. They trained for a mission, and then through no fault of their own they cannot complete it. Even worse, they’re roped into drama between Boeing and SpaceX and relegated to the status of unintended cargo on Musk’s capsule, and doing so while wearing dirty underpants.
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I’m glad to see that NASA did the right thing and didn’t go down the path of ‘normalising deviance’ that led to the destruction of both Challenger and Columbia.
The next question must be - will Boeing be forced to fly another unmanned test mission of the Starliner? Boeing has had three flights now and there are still problems that aren’t resolved. SpaceX lost a Crew Dragon in an unmanned ground test in 2019, but were cleared to fly a manned mission the next year when NASA was satisfied they had found the cause of the explosion. Will they do the same for Boeing even if the company says it knows what causes the issue?
That’s assuming of course that Boeing doesn’t throw in the towel on this ship; they’re about $1 billion out on this fixed priced contract already.
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Boeing needs to unfuck itself fast.
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Hopefully, Wilmore and Williams will be in the pipe, 5 by 5, with minimal hull ionization.
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If their unmanned capsule doesn’t land itself in good condition, this may be it for Boeing as we know it. Reorg, lots of cutbacks, LOTS of lobbying money, even though I doubt their government contracts are actually at risk. Too much money in it for politicians, even with the bad PR.
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No press release on Boeing’s homepage yet, no update on Boeing’s starlinerupdate(dot)com yet
https://starlinerupdates.com/boeings-confidence-remains-high-in-starliners-return-with-crew/
But it does look like they’ve took down the page where you could download this wallpaper not so long ago:
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I’ve just booked flights to Japan for my family. We made sure to check the aircraft weren’t Boeing 777s.
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And? As this BoingBoing post says, NASA held a press conference and said the crew isn’t coming back on the Starliner. I’m not surprised Boeing is keeping quiet. This is a massive black eye for them.
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“In space, no one can hear your stock price plummet.”
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SpaceX has a great safety and reliability record with the Falcon 9 and while there haven’t been nearly as many manned Dragon capsule flights those have all gone well, so there is a much better safety record than Boeing’s two highly problematic Starliner test flights.
As far as I can tell the commercial launch side of SpaceX keeps Elon out of their hair and that helps keep them successful. Whether the Starship and Superheavy development will evolve to a similar level of safety is another question since that’s what’s drawing most of Elon’s attention these days.
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So NASA’s choices are incompetent and dangerous due to cost-cutting, or competent and owned by a Nazi that wants to blow up government.
Nice job, late-stage capitalism.
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Really? Why?
