From $383 million / delivery in March 2023 to $1.5 billion / delivery in November 2026.
And counting.
Artemis IV is supposed to launch in 2028 and requires ML-2. Well…
Bechtel is proud to partner with NASA in their pursuit to safely send astronauts to the Moon and Mars in the Artemis IV mission and beyond.
Bechtel is designing, building, testing, and commissioning the Mobile Launcher 2 – a new ground structure that will be used to support the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. The SLS rocket is an evolvable rocket designed to carry the Orion spacecraft, four astronauts, and their support equipment to the Moon. As the Artemis mission progresses, the SLS rocket will evolve to meet the demands of those missions. With Bechtel’s help, this mobile launcher will support the SLS rocket in the Artemis IV mission and beyond.
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Fragments pose no risk - except maybe to a few satellites. Yes, I know, space is vast, satellites are small and far apart etc…
Faulty valve sent Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander straight back to Earth’s atmosphere
Helium valve in the propulsion system.
Astronomers back call for review of bonkers rule that means satellite swarms fly without environment checks
Astronomy researchers from several US universities have joined a campaign coordinated by US Public Interest Research Group (US PIRG) to pause low Earth satellite launches and convince the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reconsider exempting swarms of small satellites from environmental review requirements.
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The exemption was created way back in 1986, when far fewer satellites were being launched. The GAO, however, urged the FCC to review the exemption, citing the recent proliferation of satellites and the questions that have been raised about the sustainability of the exemption.
That recommendation was recently echoed by US PIRG, which earlier this month made a similar request to the FCC.
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Oooh I saw my house!
So Blue Origin just had another one of their little tourist rocket flights yesterday and it barely made the news. It’s apparently getting to the point where these launches are pretty humdrum and unremarkable, which somewhat paradoxically seems like it might hurt their business. Bored rich folks might be less eager to go on these flights when they’re no longer seen as making history in any way. But time will tell.
I do hope that these kind of tourist flights are not profitable and that the business model is eventually found to be unsustainable though. Even for this little 9-minute joyride the carbon footprint per passenger is about 75 tons. That’s as much as many poorer people put out over an entire lifetime, and of course the orbital flights on a SpaceX rocket are orders of magnitude worse.
Geez, ya just can’t find a good helium valve these days.
Starliner’s not-so-grand finale is a thump in the desert next week
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Undocking is set for no earlier than 1804 EDT on September 6, and landing is expected at 0003 on September 7.
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The Calamity Capsule is really living up to its nickname.
Ever get the feeling that the Boeing management hasn’t been spending enough time with this book?
Chapter 3 - Testing to Ensure Mission Success
The need for thermal or thermal vacuum testing as a tool for finding workmanship faults became apparent during the review of components for reacceptance vibration testing.
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The equipment should operate throughout the test and undergo continuous monitoring for continuity. It should pass complete functional tests immediately before and after the thermal test, and an adequate functional test after stabilization at the high and low temperatures. Equipment suspected of being adversely affected by temperature gradients should also complete functional tests during the two transitions between the high-temperature and low-temperature limits. An arbitrary decision set the acceptance test limits at 20°F less than the qualification test limits.
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By December 1969, over 15 000 tests had been performed to the revised environmental acceptance test requirements.
Next time Boeing needs to add this to their management program:
One of the quality control measures used with riggers in the U.S. Army is that the riggers must jump with a randomly selected parachute that they packed.
I think I’ve read somewhere that Boeing adapted the project management methods from Apollo for developing the 747. Go figure.
The same 747 that went on to be an iconic success, the first one of which N7470 was used for testing 777 engines decades later? Yeah, go figure… 
I suppose it would also be a lot easier to put a couple of hundred middle managers and half the board on the first test flight of a 747 than on Starliner. But still… draw straws; there were 5 empty seats on the flight up, and now 7 coming back.
I mean, that approach worked for the Soviets for Voskhod 1: make it fly with 3 people and a comrade engineer “gets” to go on the flight… 
