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Related: It will be interesting to see what happens when SpaceX has their first fatal incident involving e.g. NASA astronauts. I'm of the opinion that astrona

by tpmx 5y ago

Related: It will be interesting to see what happens when SpaceX has their first fatal incident involving e.g. NASA astronauts. I'm of the opinion that astronauts should be allowed to take reasonably informed risks. Are they reasonably informed? How do you make sure they are?

ProAm 5y ago
Let's hope FSD is not in control of Starship
colechristensen 5y ago
If you’re an astronaut, it’s your responsibility to make sure you’re adequately informed, and you are sure to be able to do that, nobody needs to protect you.
- whatshisface 5y ago
  That's just not possible - astronauts depend on thousands of engineers and testers to do their jobs right, they can't know everything.
  - sokoloff 5y ago
    People who judge that they’d need to know everything in order to be adequately informed presumably aren’t the type to become astronauts.
  - krisoft 5y ago
    But it is. Of course the astronaut can’t check let’s say every possible screws are properly tightened, but no single human can. So what can an astronaut do who is concerned about screws comming loose do? They go to the engineers who designed the craft and ask them. The engineers show them the various calculations and work documents showing how they sized the screws and how they calculated the appropriate torque they should be tightened to and why they think they won’t come loose. The engineers would also tell the astronauts that they specified twist wire as an additional safety mechanism on top of all of that. And then the astronaut can head to the head mechanic who leads the assembly process and ask them how do they know that the screws are torqued right. They would show them the training the technicians receive, the tools they employ and the QA processes they have in place. After that the astronaut can spot check a few areas. Of course they won’t do all of this with all of the systems and processes, but they can do enough to satisfy themselves that the place has the right processes in place to their liking. If the engineers don’t care about the screws, if the chief of technicians can’t find the calibration paper of the torque wrenches and if they find a passed out drunk technician behind a panel and rattling screws then the astronaut knows they are in trouble.
krisoft 5y ago
> How do you make sure they are? Astronauts are not just thrown in box and launched to space. The current practice is that an astronaut gets assigned to the project way before the spacecraft in question is ready and they participate in the engineering process. They are obviously consulted on aspects of operations and crew interfaces. They work together with the other engineers to write the manuals and checklists. Of course they can and do raise their own questions about subsystems too. Their role is similar to test pilots because well that is what they are. This will hopefully change as space flight becomes more routine. And then astronauts role will become more of what a pilot does. How do we make sure that pilots are reasonably informed? We can show them accident statistics, and through their training we explain the high level operation of the various subsystems of their craft and the role of various actors in flight safety. (Maintenance, ATC, management, the flight attendants, FFA)

by tpmx 5y ago

ProAm 5y ago

Let's hope FSD is not in control of Starship

colechristensen 5y ago

If you’re an astronaut, it’s your responsibility to make sure you’re adequately informed, and you are sure to be able to do that, nobody needs to protect you.

whatshisface 5y ago
That's just not possible - astronauts depend on thousands of engineers and testers to do their jobs right, they can't know everything.
- sokoloff 5y ago
  People who judge that they’d need to know everything in order to be adequately informed presumably aren’t the type to become astronauts.
- krisoft 5y ago
  But it is. Of course the astronaut can’t check let’s say every possible screws are properly tightened, but no single human can. So what can an astronaut do who is concerned about screws comming loose do? They go to the engineers who designed the craft and ask them. The engineers show them the various calculations and work documents showing how they sized the screws and how they calculated the appropriate torque they should be tightened to and why they think they won’t come loose. The engineers would also tell the astronauts that they specified twist wire as an additional safety mechanism on top of all of that. And then the astronaut can head to the head mechanic who leads the assembly process and ask them how do they know that the screws are torqued right. They would show them the training the technicians receive, the tools they employ and the QA processes they have in place. After that the astronaut can spot check a few areas. Of course they won’t do all of this with all of the systems and processes, but they can do enough to satisfy themselves that the place has the right processes in place to their liking. If the engineers don’t care about the screws, if the chief of technicians can’t find the calibration paper of the torque wrenches and if they find a passed out drunk technician behind a panel and rattling screws then the astronaut knows they are in trouble.

krisoft 5y ago

> How do you make sure they are? Astronauts are not just thrown in box and launched to space. The current practice is that an astronaut gets assigned to the project way before the spacecraft in question is ready and they participate in the engineering process. They are obviously consulted on aspects of operations and crew interfaces. They work together with the other engineers to write the manuals and checklists. Of course they can and do raise their own questions about subsystems too. Their role is similar to test pilots because well that is what they are. This will hopefully change as space flight becomes more routine. And then astronauts role will become more of what a pilot does. How do we make sure that pilots are reasonably informed? We can show them accident statistics, and through their training we explain the high level operation of the various subsystems of their craft and the role of various actors in flight safety. (Maintenance, ATC, management, the flight attendants, FFA)