The Starliner drama has been a major setback for Boeing’s space ambitions, adding to years of struggle to get the capsule off the ground and keep up with rival company SpaceX.
Although, I gotta say, “Hard pass on that Starliner, I’m putting my faith in an Elon Transport Solution” really speaks to the deplorable state of American aerospace.
Except that there have been 12.5 successful Crew Dragon flights (one is still docked to ISS) and, critically, zero crew casualties.
I’d put my faith in Elon Transport Solution (that realistically Elon has nothing to do with any more, operationally) over Made By A Company Where Sometimes The Door Plugs Come Off Transport Solution any day.
And F9 has the record for 363 successful consecutive launches, and more successful consecutive landings than any other vehicle has (edit: consecutive successful) launches.
And the failure that reset that number, IIRC was AMOS-6 (an uncrewed launch), which was still on the pad being fueled for it’s final static fire test before launch. Which wouldn’t put crew in danger anyway since they wouldn’t be onboard for that test. The only reason the satellite was integrated was because the customer chose to have that done before the test to reduce time between the test and launch, IIRC.
The number is also reset now, just in case you aren’t up to date.
The 2nd stage failed on a Starlink mission around a month ago. Some problem with a valve that was part of some test measurement equipment that allowed ice to then build up and damage the engine. All satellites were lost as they couldn’t make orbit due to the insertion failure from the engine.
Looks like they’re not Boeing To Die.
Although, I gotta say, “Hard pass on that Starliner, I’m putting my faith in an Elon Transport Solution” really speaks to the deplorable state of American aerospace.
Except that there have been 12.5 successful Crew Dragon flights (one is still docked to ISS) and, critically, zero crew casualties.
I’d put my faith in Elon Transport Solution (that realistically Elon has nothing to do with any more, operationally) over Made By A Company Where Sometimes The Door Plugs Come Off Transport Solution any day.
And F9 has the record for 363 successful consecutive launches, and more successful consecutive landings than any other vehicle has (edit: consecutive successful) launches.
The next behind them is 100 launches.
And the failure that reset that number, IIRC was AMOS-6 (an uncrewed launch), which was still on the pad being fueled for it’s final static fire test before launch. Which wouldn’t put crew in danger anyway since they wouldn’t be onboard for that test. The only reason the satellite was integrated was because the customer chose to have that done before the test to reduce time between the test and launch, IIRC.
The number is also reset now, just in case you aren’t up to date.
The 2nd stage failed on a Starlink mission around a month ago. Some problem with a valve that was part of some test measurement equipment that allowed ice to then build up and damage the engine. All satellites were lost as they couldn’t make orbit due to the insertion failure from the engine.
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