26 ms·

Boeing Starliner launches first crewed mission

643 points by helsinkiandrew 2y ago

rootusrootus 2y ago
Interesting that this did not make HN at all before the launch. There are way more cheerleaders for SpaceX than Boeing. But IMO it's still very cool, I could watch rocket launches all day.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- bryanlarsen 2y ago
  It made it before at least one of its other launch attempts, IIRC.
  - ceejayoz 2y ago
    Uncrewed, yes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Orbital_Flight_Test_2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Orbital_Flight_Test_2
- dmix 2y ago
  Everyone was excited for the one last time and I was around for that, I didn't even realize it was happening today. I just assumed it'd be delayed for another long period again.
  - malfist 2y ago
    I had the same issue. I thought it was postponed for a longer period given the messaging from the last scrub. I only knew it was launching 6 minutes prior because my partner alerted me about it because it was top stream on twitch.
  - rootusrootus 2y ago
    > I didn't even realize it was happening today. I did not, either. I tend to get most of my tech-related news via HN. Fortunately this morning I decided to swing past Ars to see if anything interesting was happening, and they had a high profile post about the launch. I made it to the livestream with less than five minutes to spare.
- xnx 2y ago
  4 days ago. 48 comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40547338 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40547338 Also 30 days ago.
- SideburnsOfDoom 2y ago
  Previous launch attempts did. But there are only so many successive "launch was scrubbed" stories that are interesting.
- madaxe_again 2y ago
  [flagged]
- api 2y ago
  This rocket is not reusable so it’s kind of an antique.
  - hydrogen7800 2y ago
    The rocket is not, but the crew module is intended to fly 10 times, and is compatible with several rockets including falcon 9.
    - dotnet00 2y ago
      It's 'compatible' in that they can do the work to integrate it with another rocket if needed, which isn't really saying much because most payloads are like that. It isn't compatible with Falcon 9 in its current state, and IIRC because it's wider than F9, actually flying Starliner on F9 would require a lot more structural work too (devising an appropriate aerodynamic adapter and ensuring structural loads are acceptable). Plus, NASA crew rates the full stack rather than treating the rocket and capsule separately, so integrating Starliner on another rocket would require the crew rating process to be repeated (granted, it'd be a bit easier since F9+Dragon is already crew rated).
  - cma 2y ago
    The falcon with dragon is only partially reusable too (second stage discarded). The space shuttle reused more but is more of an antique so that's not a great determiner of antiqueness.
    - tekla 2y ago
      So all the expensive parts. Got it
      - cma 2y ago
        The design of Starship/super heavy was to be closer to fully reusable, was that a mistake?
- BurningFrog 2y ago
  To be fair, SpaceX is far more cheerworthy. Does the Starliner have any feature that current SpaceX rockets don't have?
  - MPSimmons 2y ago
    Not really. The biggest apparent difference in the user experience is how the vehicle is commanded. Here's a pic of the Starliner control panel: https://x.com/TrevorMahlmann/status/1207437431374565376/photo/1 https://x.com/TrevorMahlmann/status/1207437431374565376/phot... And Crew Dragon's control panel: https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/30/21275753/nasa-spacex-astronauts-fly-crew-dragon-touchscreen-controls https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/30/21275753/nasa-spacex-astr...
    - greenavocado 2y ago
      I shudder thinking about what would happen if a touch action on the touchscreen would get stuck
      - bumby 2y ago
        There was a decent amount of concern within NASA on the touchscreen design, but the contract type tended to force those discussions to the sideline. In the end, NASA wanted a ride and not to drive the design. Edit: for those wondering, this is not hearsay or speculation; it is from direct experience (albeit 5+ years ago)
      - Maxatar 2y ago
        The Dragon Crew has physical backup controls. The touchscreen allows for a more interactive UI that you can try out here: https://iss-sim.spacex.com/ https://iss-sim.spacex.com/ But the controls themselves have physical buttons in addition to the touch screen. Also all systems have triple redundancy.
  - starik36 2y ago
    It does. It can (and will) land on land instead of water.
- luuurker 2y ago
  How many times was this launch delayed due to problems? I get excited, but can't stay excited for months.
  - HWR_14 2y ago
    It was delayed three times in the month leading up to launch, and there was an attempt just over a year ago that was scratched because they discovered they accidentally used a flammable material. So, four total times. But "staying excited for months" is misleading.
    - starik36 2y ago
      True, but you have to add previous attempts going back several years. Wasn't Atlas+Starliner actually rolled out to the pad last time only to be scrubbed and brought back for another 6 month delay?
      - dylan604 2y ago
        Yes, this GP's comment is very misleading in that it only listed the recent scrubs. I almost felt sorry for the astronauts.
        HWR_14 2y ago
        I listed all the ones I could find for the manned mission. Did my list miss some?
        starik36 2y ago
        You are missing ones where it was scheduled, but didn't even make it to the stand because some issue was found. I can't recall when exactly, but at some point it was discovered that the tape used to wrap wires was flammable. So it was postponed, once again.
        2y ago
- dotnet00 2y ago
  It's been delayed so many times after getting very close to launch that it makes sense that everyone just lost interest. On top of that Boeing's launch coverage is nowhere near as fancy as SpaceX (or new space in general, RocketLab and Blue Origin also tend to have pretty decent coverage, although neither of them are doing crewed orbital spaceflight yet). No views of the non-flight-control employees enjoying seeing their work fly, very little live telemetry, low resolution for when they do have live video, mostly CGI views once down to the second stage, no live views from the capsule in space either. Finally, on top of that, Starliner is kind of just a dead end in its current state. Boeing only built the two it needs for this one contract, and it only flies on Atlas V, which are fully sold out now. So it can only do the 6 contracted ISS missions and then it's done until someone is willing to pay to have Starliner+Vulcan Centaur crew rated.
  - robertlagrant 2y ago
    > Boeing only built the two it needs for this one contract, and it only flies on Atlas V, which are fully sold out now. So it can only do the 6 contracted ISS missions and then it's done until someone is willing to pay to have Starliner+Vulcan Centaur crew rated. This is what I like about SpaceX. Of course they have government contracts, but it's always building towards something bigger.
  - dylan604 2y ago
    I was really unimpressed with Boeing's feed and its lack of telemetry. No indications of altitude, speed, distance down range, etc. Even their timeline jumped rather than progressed. It was worse than some of those old Windows progress bars of old.
- FireBeyond 2y ago
  There was an article when the launch was scrubbed two days ago, but it didn't make much traction, and the few comments on it were (as objectively as possible) mostly "smirking SpaceX fans".
  - dylan604 2y ago
    Objectively dissing on Boeing has become it's own pastime regardless of being a fan of anything else
    - protastus 2y ago
      There is no schadenfreude for the people in my circle. The same can be said for Intel. We all see it as a huge national security issue that these companies are fumbling, given how foundational they are for U.S. security, self-reliance and tech leadership.
      - dylan604 2y ago
        There's no pleasure in Boeing's failure on my part either. It is such a learning moment on many levels that is absolutely being ignored. No meaningful changes are going to come from looking at Boeing. Instead, my cynicism would expect people to "learn" from it in seeing where Boeing went wrong with how they went for short term gains not that focusing on short term gains as the problem
xyst 2y ago
[dead]
- tekla 2y ago
  Considering the rocket is ULA I would venture that your "knowing" is wrong
  - axus 2y ago
    Starliner is the part in orbit (made by Boeing), and Atlas-V is the rocket (made by ULA, originally designed by LM). If the passengers were worried about Boeing, it's the orbit and return they should be afraid of.
- malfist 2y ago
  Boeing's airplane and space segments are about as separate as you can get within the same company.
- perihelions 2y ago
  No, for instance the RD-180 engine is from NPO Energomash' facility in Khimki, in Moscow Oblast. Of the things to worry about with the RD-180, Boeing QA is not one of them.
nytesky 2y ago
Gallows humor on the livestream chat: bet NASA will get another movie out of this.
dave78 2y ago
Sounds like there's a problem with the cooling system using more water than expected. If I understood the comms correctly it sounded like they switched to a backup system to try to alleviate the issue.
- madaxe_again 2y ago
  And there’s a leak of ullage helium, which they are unable to resolve, so I doubt they will be reentering with the capsule.
  - aejm 2y ago
    The helium leak was well understood and characterized before this launch attempt, see the last launch attempt. Helium leaks are not uncommon, and can be worked around. Not reentering with this capsule would be a catastrophic failure. They are, unless something actually serious happens, certainly reentering on this capsule.
    - madaxe_again 2y ago
      There are two additional leaks detected post launch, and they have been unable to stem them, and are down 6 RCS thrusters. I anticipate catastrophic failure. Dunno where you think they’re going to get more helium from.
      - Waterluvian 2y ago
        The Sun has a bit and it’s also in space.
      - kylecazar 2y ago
        "Starliner’s currently maintaining plenty of helium reserves,” Boeing aerospace engineer Jim May confirmed Thursday morning. "Currently the helium leak is not a safety issue for the crew, the vehicle or the mission.”
        2y ago
wannacboatmovie 2y ago
I find it amazing that this is treated as such a trivial achievement, with an attitude as if any one of us could have done this. Now back to our regularly scheduled social media apps.
- Cacti 2y ago
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- pfdietz 2y ago
  Not trivial, but also not consequential.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- saberience 2y ago
  It's a nice new capsule launching on top of a 20+ year old launch system (Atlas V). It's a great accomplishment but it's not "super crazy"
  - malfist 2y ago
    It took them a decade and a half to make this thing. I think that alone speaks to the complexity of this achievement.
    - saberience 2y ago
      I'm not shitting on Starliner, it's great that we have another person-rated capsule for spaceflight. I'm just pointing this out because there are many people apparently who are confusing Starliner for Boeing's version of Starship, i.e. a whole rocket plus crew rated capsule.
      - dylan604 2y ago
        Starliner would be more rightly compared to Crew Dragon. Why would anyone compare to Starship?
tibbydudeza 2y ago
What a relief for NASA and Boeing and a welcome sight for me personally as a space enthusiast - hopefully this will inspire the folks at SpaceX to get StarShip working.
- ta1243 2y ago
  Starliner is the Boeing equivalent of Falcon/Crew Dragon which has been used for years.
- ozr 2y ago
  Have they not been though?
- saberience 2y ago
  Starliner vs Starship isn't really a valid comparison. Starliner is a new human carrying capsule which is fitted on top of an old rocket. Starship is a 100% brand new everything rocket and person carrying spaceship with ground breaking tech, lift capacity, full reusability, thrust, payload capacity, etc etc. The rocket used to launch Starliner today is an Atlas V which first flew in 2002. I.e. it's a 22 year old rocket system.
  - dragonwriter 2y ago
    > The rocket used to launch Starliner today is an Atlas V which first flew in 2002. I.e. it's a 24 year old rocket system. Are you posting from 2026?
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
  - tibbydudeza 2y ago
    But with continuous development with Vulcan Centaur engines replacing the Russian RD-180.
    - T-A 2y ago
wood_spirit 2y ago
This is a bit meta, but is it surprising that the BBC news website is the go-to source for a broad range of news stories that end up on HN? What and where are the competition?
- seydor 2y ago
  It's politically neutral and generally less opinionated. Competition is reuters, AP, other public media such as canadian tv, france24 etc.
  - jibe 2y ago
    There are plenty of reasonable US sources, NY Times, WaPo, WSJ, but they are all paywalled.
    - imabotbeep2937 2y ago
      WaPo, "reasonable". Ha. Or cut to WSJ and NYT on Theranos, SBF, and the other huxters they've shilled for with zero journalism lately. All US news is completely biased garbage in various ways. I caught NPR recently cutting and pasting a white house press release with zero journalism or commentary. Or their health blog which now routinely has stories like "measurements of height have historically been uses to marginalize short people, should doctors even measure it anymore?" I literally only get my news from what I randomly hear off forums like this. And I guarantee I'll beat anyone on a quiz of actual facts about world news. (e.g. after SBF was convicted, not before.)
      - knowaveragejoe 2y ago
        > And I guarantee I'll beat anyone on a quiz of actual facts about world news. (e.g. after SBF was convicted, not before.) Put your money where your mouth is - prediction markets or some other fair debate. I personally would take the other side of that bet if contrarianism is your default.
  - insane_dreamer 2y ago
ein0p 2y ago
As exciting as this is, I’ve read that this capsule faces uncertain future after 7 launches: the rocket it was launched on is retired, and while it’s compatible with Falcon it’s not clear what the advantage would be wrt SpaceX’s capsule to warrant additional testing. Imagine working on something for over a decade only to see it fly just 7 times!
- bitcharmer 2y ago
  The main goal of the project has been achieved as far as Boeing is concerned :)
  - Meerax 2y ago
    Bear in mind they still need to return the astronauts safely to touchdown.
- dotnet00 2y ago
  It isn't compatible with Falcon, it can be made to be compatible with Falcon in the future. It wouldn't really be worth doing though, since part of the point of having two providers is dissimilar redundancy, so that any issues with one platform don't affect the other. It's more likely that if Boeing wants to keep flying Starliner after using up the stock of Atlas Vs, they'll want to integrate it on Vulcan Centaur rather than Falcon.
  - nickff 2y ago
    One might imagine that an issue could be found on Dragon, which grounded it, but not the Falcon 9. That said, it’s definitely less redundant than one might like.
- glenstein 2y ago
  >Imagine working on something for over a decade only to see it fly just 7 times! Huh? My understanding was that something unique about the falcon is the capability of multiple reuses, in contrast to previous missions that were one and done uses. What past experience in the history of spaceflight might someone be referring to where seven reuses registers as a disappointment?
fiftyfifty 2y ago
It's crazy the US could soon have up to 5 different spacecraft/launch systems that can take humans to orbit with 2 more in development: Falcon 9 + Dragon, SLS + Orion, Atlas V (Vulcan Centaur) + Starliner Close to orbital payload launch, likely human rated in the future: Vulcan Centaur + Dream Chaser, Superheavy + Starship Under development: New Glenn + Space Vehicle (?), Neutron
- ragebol 2y ago
  Is neutron to be man rated?
  - fiftyfifty 2y ago
    Rocket Lab mentions “human spaceflight” on the Neutron page, that’s the only mention I’ve seen of it. I haven’t seen any plans for a spacecraft for carrying humans or how they might handle re-entry. https://www.rocketlabusa.com/launch/neutron/ https://www.rocketlabusa.com/launch/neutron/
  - nordsieck 2y ago
    > Is neutron to be man rated? Yes and no. It's probably more accurate to say "human ratable". They're planning on designing the rocket with human rating in mind, so that if they want to do it in the future, it'll be easier. But NASA doesn't human rate a rocket - they human rate the entire system as a whole, so it doesn't really make sense to say "human rate Neutron".
    - dotnet00 2y ago
      I wonder how that's supposed to work with their unique captive fairing design. Feels like they'd have to design crew flight specific boosters which don't have the fairings.
- nordsieck 2y ago
  > likely human rated in the future: Vulcan Centaur + Dream Chaser IMO, this one is the least likely. There are a lot of problems that need to be over come for Dream Chaser to be crew rated. And AFAIK, they aren't getting NASA money to do it.
dang 2y ago
Related. Others? Boeing and NASA call off Starliner crew launch minutes before liftoff - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40547338 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40547338 - June 2024 (47 comments) Boeing's Starliner Crew Flight Test delayed again, path forward unclear - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40434398 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40434398 - May 2024 (28 comments) Boeing Starliner's first crewed mission scrubbed - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40281272 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40281272 - May 2024 (162 comments) NASA and Boeing Are (Finally) Putting Astronauts on Starliner - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39843148 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39843148 - March 2024 (9 comments) Boeing has now lost $1.1B on Starliner, with no crew flight in sight - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36879769 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36879769 - July 2023 (218 comments) NASA safety panel skeptical of Starliner readiness for crewed flight - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36085531 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36085531 - May 2023 (27 comments) Boeing to ground Starliner indefinitely until valve issue solved - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28185195 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28185195 - Aug 2021 (42 comments) Boeing Starliner's flight's flaws show “fundamental problem,” NASA says - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22297564 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22297564 - Feb 2020 (140 comments) NASA Shares Initial Findings from Boeing Starliner Orbital Test Investigation - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22266747 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22266747 - Feb 2020 (14 comments) Starliner faced “catastrophic” failure before software bug found - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22260731 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22260731 - Feb 2020 (60 comments) Boeing reports a $410M charge in case NASA decides Starliner needs another test - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22194735 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22194735 - Jan 2020 (55 comments) Boeing Starliner updates: Spacecraft flies into wrong orbit, jeopardizing test - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21843988 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21843988 - Dec 2019 (240 comments) New Spacesuit Unveiled for Starliner Astronauts - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13488096 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13488096 - Jan 2017 (65 comments) Boeing-SpaceX Team Split Space Taxi Award - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8326845 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8326845 - Sept 2014 (115 comments) NASA to Make Major Announcement Today About Astronaut Transport to the ISS - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8324848 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8324848 - Sept 2014 (43 comments) SpaceX Vies With Boeing as NASA’s Taxi to Station - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8296567 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8296567 - Sept 2014 (49 comments)
wigster 2y ago
boeing + spaceflight. they are braver than i
- cooper_ganglia 2y ago
  No one can hear you blow a whistle in space.
- Diederich 2y ago
  Yeah this morning I was thinking about what the astronauts must be thinking. I would ride the Atlas/Centaur stack, it's been exceedingly reliable. Starliner itself? Not quite yet, given its checkered history. Boeing brings up nothing but sadness in me these days. I really, really, really want that company to succeed and be awesome. Hopefully going forward Starliner will bring forward the excellence that has been Boeing in the past.
- tootie 2y ago
  Despite headlines, air travel gets safer and safer every year. At least when measured by fatalities per departure. Boeing has had several high profile failures, but it's correlated with a huge increase in flights and a huge increase in expectations.
  - wkat4242 2y ago
    The problem is more that those failures were entirely preventable and caused by decisions that prioritised economic motives over security. And the manufacturer was squarely to blame, which is also not the case in most accidents. Even when the industry overall is doing pretty well, we should still scrutinize every incident. There's no such thing as acceptable fatalities.
    - fjgvcjygjvh 2y ago
      To be fair the airlines possibly share a slight proportion of the blame. They could have made sure that the pilots received proper training (or at least a fraction of it). There might be a reason why both incidents happened in third world countries...
WhackyIdeas 2y ago
[flagged]
- deleted 2y ago
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- dinglestepup 2y ago
  What?
  - WhackyIdeas 2y ago
    Boeing are a morally rich company for the peace and hope their products bring to the children of Gaza.
    - dinglestepup 2y ago
      .
      - deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
        deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
    - goryramsy 2y ago
      At least your honest with your username.
      - deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
      - WhackyIdeas 2y ago
        In the same way I would find it hard to read praise on a Jimmy Saville story, I find it hard to read praise on a company which is making the bombs which are killing little children en masse in Gaza. Whacky is the world.
skc 2y ago
Ever since I finished all 4 seasons of "For All Mankind" I've been eating up news like this. Truly awe inspiring stuff happening these days
- AnarchismIsCool 2y ago
  Everyone who likes space stuff should go watch it. They focus too much on marriage drama for my taste and they kinda jump the shark in the later seasons, but the first season is a love letter to a past that should have existed, and in a way I can't express with words. I work in the aerospace industry and just watching a depiction of it in a universe where people still just...gave a shit...especially about something other than money, brings about a whole spectrum of emotions.
  - semireg 2y ago
    I loved the first season so much. But for the love of god, I should have stopped long before I became mad at it’s absurd drama.
  - ThrowawayTestr 2y ago
    The pseudo-incest really wasn't necessary but the rest is really good.
  - aksss 2y ago
    I ended up fast forwarding through almost all the family-related drama. It did get absurd, as the seasons wore on they let the wrong writers get more and more pages. Just like star trek, space became a backdrop for a bland soap opera.
  - AdamN 2y ago
    First couple of episodes were awesome - the constructed drama became a deadweight though and I couldn't endure.
- roer 2y ago
  And there's another Starship test today as well! Space fans are getting spoiled recently, and I'm all for it.
KenArrari 2y ago
I hope someone double checked those doors.
- deleted 2y ago
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ConcernedCoder 2y ago
I'm glad everything went ok.
divbzero 2y ago
Photographs of the launch from Reuters: https://reuters.com/pictures/boeings-starliner-blasts-off-first-crewed-flight-into-orbit-2024-06-05/ https://reuters.com/pictures/boeings-starliner-blasts-off-fi...
deciplex 2y ago
I would say that the one redeeming quality of Elon Musk (in a sea of otherwise awful personality traits) is that for at least Tesla and SpaceX, that he was interested in running those companies primarily to produce a product. Like that was the primary focus and raison d'être of both of those companies, especially SpaceX I think. This is in opposition to the usual "the only point of a business is to make money" ethos that so permeates neoliberal capitalism that we hardly even notice it anymore. The latter is dysfunctional, inhuman, and ultimately bad for business. I don't know if he still takes that approach. In fact, I kind of doubt he ever really did, but he certainly projected that image publicly, and most importantly to workers of those companies - whether he "really believed" it I guess is a moot point. When you take the "businesses exist to return a profit to shareholders" approach you're always going to focus on leadership that has a track record of doing that, even if that excludes building a good product or for that matter even the long-term viability of the business. Thus, you see these CEO hires that don't seem to make sense - most of us unconsciously still think of businesses as things created to make a thing or do a specific thing, because that's a natural thing to believe. Anyway I think you can attribute some of the success of both to this, as well as Musk's public image at least ca 2008-2018 or so.
- gibolt 2y ago
  Most people who have worked close to him generally note that he has intimate knowledge up and down the entire product side (at minimum) of the company. This can lead to micro-management, but leads to far better results than most companies could ever hope to achieve. Communication and agreement are what add cost and misdirection to development. When a tiny set of people with one clear goal pull the strings, it is much more efficient to reach the north star product.
  - deciplex 2y ago
    This seems like an argument for a command economy.
- dsco 2y ago
  Why do people always have to preface Elon praise with some initial criticism. The man has objectively created some incredible businesses.
surume 2y ago
Unfortunately one of the doors came off mid-flight...
LightBug1 2y ago
Excellent ... we need alternatives and competition in space.
- dmix 2y ago
  This is probably the definition of the gov rejecting competition and choosing the absolute “safest” option, and just happens to still be around when others are nipping at their heels
dm03514 2y ago
This is a n00b question, but how do regulations apply to private human crewed missions in the US? Are there clear guidelines already written? I’m assuming it inherits a lot of rules of general aviation? But since private firms launching into space is new, do the rules and regulations keep up? Or are they still to be written?
- gamepsys 2y ago
  US regulation applies. On top of US regulation, basically every nation will see you as a potential security risk because the difference between an ICBM and space launch rocket is mostly payload and flight path.
- manquer 2y ago
  Rocket regulations apply including ITAR, FAA and others for any payload human or cargo launched on any vehicle . The launch doesn’t have to be even to launched from the US, rocket lab have to comply with them even when launching from New Zealand. There are host of rules that NASA has for human spaceflight these are not regulations per se. Till now NASA has been the only buyer[1][2] of human spaceflights or the destination has been ISS which is jointly managed by them so even private operators to comply with these rules. SpaceX and now Boeing human rate their spacecrafts to these specifications to allow them to compete for commercial crew contracts or dock to ISS[4]. In the next few years this will change, NASA is research organization not a regulatory authority sooner or later regulations have to move to either FAA or another new entity. Currently no regulations exist for space proper. FAA does control a lot of launch related items, but don’t regulate things like spacesuits that now spaceX is developing currently. There are no strict limits to FAA authority they do control Virgin rocket planes although it does cross the US defined line for space . Knowing Musk’s temperament, what is likely to happen is FAA will try to extend their authority that he deems is overreach and he will sue in court saying they have no jurisdiction, either Supreme Court will say they do (not likely in Robert’s court) or congress will have pass law regulating this ( less likely in current congress it is too dysfunctional) but these things may change in the next few years when it does happen —- [1] Axiom buys private launches from spaceX but they still dock to ISS so I expect NASA rules apply. [2] Jared Issacman’s last mission was the true first fully private mission to space but still used mostly stock Dragon so they mostly likely followed NASA rules [3] all this from US perspective , Soyuz and China has capabilities and Soyuz and also in Mir space station have had some commercial flights of course [4] only place you can go today , end of this decade there maybe private station or moon or even mars but not today
qwertox 2y ago
One thing which surprised me a bit was how fast it left the launch pad. It took just a second or a little bit more. With Starship it appeared as if it was struggling to lift off, staying for a while burning fuel until it left the launch pad and even then it felt a bit slow at accelerating. I'll see tomorrow if it was just an illusion.
- ericbarrett 2y ago
  This has to do with the launch vehicle's thrust to weight ratio (TWR) on the ground with a full tank. It's usually between 1.1 and 1.4. The Russian Proton has a famously high ground TWR and is known for "leaping" off the pad. Maybe Starliner is the same in this initial crewed LEO config.
- Ductapemaster 2y ago
  I’m not a rocket scientist but I do know the two rockets use different propellants. The Atlas V uses solid propellant, and the Starship uses liquid. I know liquid engines have the ability to throttle them, and I would guess solid does not (or a more limited capacity) so that could be at play here. Starship could ignite and then throttle up, which would leave it on the pad longer. I’m sure someone more knowledgeable than I can clarify!
  - fastball 2y ago
    Only the SRBs use solid propellant (APCP). The first stage is kerolox and the upper stage is hydrolox. Although you are a bit off the mark, you did actually hit on the likely reason for the faster liftoff, which is that the SRBs have a much higher thrust-to-weight ratio than the SpaceX Superheavy booster.
- rdruxn 2y ago
  Starship (including the Super Heavy) weighs about 10x as much as the Starliner (including the Atlas V)
- gorkish 2y ago
  For one, Starship is 392 ft vs 172ft of Atlas V + Starliner. Even if they accelerate off the pad at the same rate, Starship is going to look like it's moving a lot slower.
protocolture 2y ago
[flagged]
black_13 2y ago
[dead]
slimebot80 2y ago
Funny, on Twitter I've clicked through to every "For You", "Trending", "News", etc section. It's not mentioned once. I always see majestic rocket photography promoted on Twitter. Why not today? I thought Twitter was the worlds #1 news source.
jeff_vader 2y ago
On top of problems with helium leaks there's now another issue[1]: > Starliner has been given a go to hold at 260 meters from the space station. During the approach two reaction control system jets have failed off. A manual flight test has been put on hold while flight controllers look to restore those jets with a hot fire. [1]: https://x.com/SpaceflightNow/status/1798738262368104639 https://x.com/SpaceflightNow/status/1798738262368104639
- openmarmot 2y ago
  some updates here as well. https://www.space.com/news/live/boeing-starliner-live-updates https://www.space.com/news/live/boeing-starliner-live-update... keeping my fingers crossed that everything works out. must be very tense for the astronauts. update : issues mitigated, starliner has docked with the ISS. yes!

Interesting that this did not make HN at all before the launch. There are way more cheerleaders for SpaceX than Boeing. But IMO it's still very cool, I could watch rocket launches all day.

deleted 2y ago
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bryanlarsen 2y ago
It made it before at least one of its other launch attempts, IIRC.
- ceejayoz 2y ago
  Uncrewed, yes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Orbital_Flight_Test_2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Orbital_Flight_Test_2
dmix 2y ago
Everyone was excited for the one last time and I was around for that, I didn't even realize it was happening today. I just assumed it'd be delayed for another long period again.
- malfist 2y ago
  I had the same issue. I thought it was postponed for a longer period given the messaging from the last scrub. I only knew it was launching 6 minutes prior because my partner alerted me about it because it was top stream on twitch.
- rootusrootus 2y ago
  > I didn't even realize it was happening today. I did not, either. I tend to get most of my tech-related news via HN. Fortunately this morning I decided to swing past Ars to see if anything interesting was happening, and they had a high profile post about the launch. I made it to the livestream with less than five minutes to spare.
xnx 2y ago
4 days ago. 48 comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40547338 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40547338 Also 30 days ago.
SideburnsOfDoom 2y ago
Previous launch attempts did. But there are only so many successive "launch was scrubbed" stories that are interesting.
madaxe_again 2y ago
[flagged]
api 2y ago
This rocket is not reusable so it’s kind of an antique.
- hydrogen7800 2y ago
  The rocket is not, but the crew module is intended to fly 10 times, and is compatible with several rockets including falcon 9.
  - dotnet00 2y ago
    It's 'compatible' in that they can do the work to integrate it with another rocket if needed, which isn't really saying much because most payloads are like that. It isn't compatible with Falcon 9 in its current state, and IIRC because it's wider than F9, actually flying Starliner on F9 would require a lot more structural work too (devising an appropriate aerodynamic adapter and ensuring structural loads are acceptable). Plus, NASA crew rates the full stack rather than treating the rocket and capsule separately, so integrating Starliner on another rocket would require the crew rating process to be repeated (granted, it'd be a bit easier since F9+Dragon is already crew rated).
- cma 2y ago
  The falcon with dragon is only partially reusable too (second stage discarded). The space shuttle reused more but is more of an antique so that's not a great determiner of antiqueness.
  - tekla 2y ago
    So all the expensive parts. Got it
    - cma 2y ago
      The design of Starship/super heavy was to be closer to fully reusable, was that a mistake?
BurningFrog 2y ago
To be fair, SpaceX is far more cheerworthy. Does the Starliner have any feature that current SpaceX rockets don't have?
- MPSimmons 2y ago
  Not really. The biggest apparent difference in the user experience is how the vehicle is commanded. Here's a pic of the Starliner control panel: https://x.com/TrevorMahlmann/status/1207437431374565376/photo/1 https://x.com/TrevorMahlmann/status/1207437431374565376/phot... And Crew Dragon's control panel: https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/30/21275753/nasa-spacex-astronauts-fly-crew-dragon-touchscreen-controls https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/30/21275753/nasa-spacex-astr...
  - greenavocado 2y ago
    I shudder thinking about what would happen if a touch action on the touchscreen would get stuck
    - bumby 2y ago
      There was a decent amount of concern within NASA on the touchscreen design, but the contract type tended to force those discussions to the sideline. In the end, NASA wanted a ride and not to drive the design. Edit: for those wondering, this is not hearsay or speculation; it is from direct experience (albeit 5+ years ago)
    - Maxatar 2y ago
      The Dragon Crew has physical backup controls. The touchscreen allows for a more interactive UI that you can try out here: https://iss-sim.spacex.com/ https://iss-sim.spacex.com/ But the controls themselves have physical buttons in addition to the touch screen. Also all systems have triple redundancy.
- starik36 2y ago
  It does. It can (and will) land on land instead of water.
luuurker 2y ago
How many times was this launch delayed due to problems? I get excited, but can't stay excited for months.
- HWR_14 2y ago
  It was delayed three times in the month leading up to launch, and there was an attempt just over a year ago that was scratched because they discovered they accidentally used a flammable material. So, four total times. But "staying excited for months" is misleading.
  - starik36 2y ago
    True, but you have to add previous attempts going back several years. Wasn't Atlas+Starliner actually rolled out to the pad last time only to be scrubbed and brought back for another 6 month delay?
    - dylan604 2y ago
      Yes, this GP's comment is very misleading in that it only listed the recent scrubs. I almost felt sorry for the astronauts.
      - HWR_14 2y ago
        I listed all the ones I could find for the manned mission. Did my list miss some?
        starik36 2y ago
        You are missing ones where it was scheduled, but didn't even make it to the stand because some issue was found. I can't recall when exactly, but at some point it was discovered that the tape used to wrap wires was flammable. So it was postponed, once again.
        2y ago
dotnet00 2y ago
It's been delayed so many times after getting very close to launch that it makes sense that everyone just lost interest. On top of that Boeing's launch coverage is nowhere near as fancy as SpaceX (or new space in general, RocketLab and Blue Origin also tend to have pretty decent coverage, although neither of them are doing crewed orbital spaceflight yet). No views of the non-flight-control employees enjoying seeing their work fly, very little live telemetry, low resolution for when they do have live video, mostly CGI views once down to the second stage, no live views from the capsule in space either. Finally, on top of that, Starliner is kind of just a dead end in its current state. Boeing only built the two it needs for this one contract, and it only flies on Atlas V, which are fully sold out now. So it can only do the 6 contracted ISS missions and then it's done until someone is willing to pay to have Starliner+Vulcan Centaur crew rated.
- robertlagrant 2y ago
  > Boeing only built the two it needs for this one contract, and it only flies on Atlas V, which are fully sold out now. So it can only do the 6 contracted ISS missions and then it's done until someone is willing to pay to have Starliner+Vulcan Centaur crew rated. This is what I like about SpaceX. Of course they have government contracts, but it's always building towards something bigger.
- dylan604 2y ago
  I was really unimpressed with Boeing's feed and its lack of telemetry. No indications of altitude, speed, distance down range, etc. Even their timeline jumped rather than progressed. It was worse than some of those old Windows progress bars of old.
FireBeyond 2y ago
There was an article when the launch was scrubbed two days ago, but it didn't make much traction, and the few comments on it were (as objectively as possible) mostly "smirking SpaceX fans".
- dylan604 2y ago
  Objectively dissing on Boeing has become it's own pastime regardless of being a fan of anything else
  - protastus 2y ago
    There is no schadenfreude for the people in my circle. The same can be said for Intel. We all see it as a huge national security issue that these companies are fumbling, given how foundational they are for U.S. security, self-reliance and tech leadership.
    - dylan604 2y ago
      There's no pleasure in Boeing's failure on my part either. It is such a learning moment on many levels that is absolutely being ignored. No meaningful changes are going to come from looking at Boeing. Instead, my cynicism would expect people to "learn" from it in seeing where Boeing went wrong with how they went for short term gains not that focusing on short term gains as the problem

xyst 2y ago

[dead]

tekla 2y ago
Considering the rocket is ULA I would venture that your "knowing" is wrong
- axus 2y ago
  Starliner is the part in orbit (made by Boeing), and Atlas-V is the rocket (made by ULA, originally designed by LM). If the passengers were worried about Boeing, it's the orbit and return they should be afraid of.
malfist 2y ago
Boeing's airplane and space segments are about as separate as you can get within the same company.
perihelions 2y ago
No, for instance the RD-180 engine is from NPO Energomash' facility in Khimki, in Moscow Oblast. Of the things to worry about with the RD-180, Boeing QA is not one of them.

nytesky 2y ago

Gallows humor on the livestream chat: bet NASA will get another movie out of this.

dave78 2y ago

Sounds like there's a problem with the cooling system using more water than expected. If I understood the comms correctly it sounded like they switched to a backup system to try to alleviate the issue.

madaxe_again 2y ago
And there’s a leak of ullage helium, which they are unable to resolve, so I doubt they will be reentering with the capsule.
- aejm 2y ago
  The helium leak was well understood and characterized before this launch attempt, see the last launch attempt. Helium leaks are not uncommon, and can be worked around. Not reentering with this capsule would be a catastrophic failure. They are, unless something actually serious happens, certainly reentering on this capsule.
  - madaxe_again 2y ago
    There are two additional leaks detected post launch, and they have been unable to stem them, and are down 6 RCS thrusters. I anticipate catastrophic failure. Dunno where you think they’re going to get more helium from.
    - Waterluvian 2y ago
      The Sun has a bit and it’s also in space.
    - kylecazar 2y ago
      "Starliner’s currently maintaining plenty of helium reserves,” Boeing aerospace engineer Jim May confirmed Thursday morning. "Currently the helium leak is not a safety issue for the crew, the vehicle or the mission.”
      - 2y ago

wannacboatmovie 2y ago

I find it amazing that this is treated as such a trivial achievement, with an attitude as if any one of us could have done this. Now back to our regularly scheduled social media apps.

Cacti 2y ago
[flagged]
pfdietz 2y ago
Not trivial, but also not consequential.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
saberience 2y ago
It's a nice new capsule launching on top of a 20+ year old launch system (Atlas V). It's a great accomplishment but it's not "super crazy"
- malfist 2y ago
  It took them a decade and a half to make this thing. I think that alone speaks to the complexity of this achievement.
  - saberience 2y ago
    I'm not shitting on Starliner, it's great that we have another person-rated capsule for spaceflight. I'm just pointing this out because there are many people apparently who are confusing Starliner for Boeing's version of Starship, i.e. a whole rocket plus crew rated capsule.
    - dylan604 2y ago
      Starliner would be more rightly compared to Crew Dragon. Why would anyone compare to Starship?

tibbydudeza 2y ago

What a relief for NASA and Boeing and a welcome sight for me personally as a space enthusiast - hopefully this will inspire the folks at SpaceX to get StarShip working.

ta1243 2y ago
Starliner is the Boeing equivalent of Falcon/Crew Dragon which has been used for years.
ozr 2y ago
Have they not been though?
saberience 2y ago
Starliner vs Starship isn't really a valid comparison. Starliner is a new human carrying capsule which is fitted on top of an old rocket. Starship is a 100% brand new everything rocket and person carrying spaceship with ground breaking tech, lift capacity, full reusability, thrust, payload capacity, etc etc. The rocket used to launch Starliner today is an Atlas V which first flew in 2002. I.e. it's a 22 year old rocket system.
- dragonwriter 2y ago
  > The rocket used to launch Starliner today is an Atlas V which first flew in 2002. I.e. it's a 24 year old rocket system. Are you posting from 2026?
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- tibbydudeza 2y ago
  But with continuous development with Vulcan Centaur engines replacing the Russian RD-180.
  - T-A 2y ago

wood_spirit 2y ago

This is a bit meta, but is it surprising that the BBC news website is the go-to source for a broad range of news stories that end up on HN? What and where are the competition?

seydor 2y ago
It's politically neutral and generally less opinionated. Competition is reuters, AP, other public media such as canadian tv, france24 etc.
- jibe 2y ago
  There are plenty of reasonable US sources, NY Times, WaPo, WSJ, but they are all paywalled.
  - imabotbeep2937 2y ago
    WaPo, "reasonable". Ha. Or cut to WSJ and NYT on Theranos, SBF, and the other huxters they've shilled for with zero journalism lately. All US news is completely biased garbage in various ways. I caught NPR recently cutting and pasting a white house press release with zero journalism or commentary. Or their health blog which now routinely has stories like "measurements of height have historically been uses to marginalize short people, should doctors even measure it anymore?" I literally only get my news from what I randomly hear off forums like this. And I guarantee I'll beat anyone on a quiz of actual facts about world news. (e.g. after SBF was convicted, not before.)
    - knowaveragejoe 2y ago
      > And I guarantee I'll beat anyone on a quiz of actual facts about world news. (e.g. after SBF was convicted, not before.) Put your money where your mouth is - prediction markets or some other fair debate. I personally would take the other side of that bet if contrarianism is your default.
- insane_dreamer 2y ago

ein0p 2y ago

As exciting as this is, I’ve read that this capsule faces uncertain future after 7 launches: the rocket it was launched on is retired, and while it’s compatible with Falcon it’s not clear what the advantage would be wrt SpaceX’s capsule to warrant additional testing. Imagine working on something for over a decade only to see it fly just 7 times!

bitcharmer 2y ago
The main goal of the project has been achieved as far as Boeing is concerned :)
- Meerax 2y ago
  Bear in mind they still need to return the astronauts safely to touchdown.
dotnet00 2y ago
It isn't compatible with Falcon, it can be made to be compatible with Falcon in the future. It wouldn't really be worth doing though, since part of the point of having two providers is dissimilar redundancy, so that any issues with one platform don't affect the other. It's more likely that if Boeing wants to keep flying Starliner after using up the stock of Atlas Vs, they'll want to integrate it on Vulcan Centaur rather than Falcon.
- nickff 2y ago
  One might imagine that an issue could be found on Dragon, which grounded it, but not the Falcon 9. That said, it’s definitely less redundant than one might like.
glenstein 2y ago
>Imagine working on something for over a decade only to see it fly just 7 times! Huh? My understanding was that something unique about the falcon is the capability of multiple reuses, in contrast to previous missions that were one and done uses. What past experience in the history of spaceflight might someone be referring to where seven reuses registers as a disappointment?

fiftyfifty 2y ago

It's crazy the US could soon have up to 5 different spacecraft/launch systems that can take humans to orbit with 2 more in development: Falcon 9 + Dragon, SLS + Orion, Atlas V (Vulcan Centaur) + Starliner Close to orbital payload launch, likely human rated in the future: Vulcan Centaur + Dream Chaser, Superheavy + Starship Under development: New Glenn + Space Vehicle (?), Neutron

ragebol 2y ago
Is neutron to be man rated?
- fiftyfifty 2y ago
  Rocket Lab mentions “human spaceflight” on the Neutron page, that’s the only mention I’ve seen of it. I haven’t seen any plans for a spacecraft for carrying humans or how they might handle re-entry. https://www.rocketlabusa.com/launch/neutron/ https://www.rocketlabusa.com/launch/neutron/
- nordsieck 2y ago
  > Is neutron to be man rated? Yes and no. It's probably more accurate to say "human ratable". They're planning on designing the rocket with human rating in mind, so that if they want to do it in the future, it'll be easier. But NASA doesn't human rate a rocket - they human rate the entire system as a whole, so it doesn't really make sense to say "human rate Neutron".
  - dotnet00 2y ago
    I wonder how that's supposed to work with their unique captive fairing design. Feels like they'd have to design crew flight specific boosters which don't have the fairings.
nordsieck 2y ago
> likely human rated in the future: Vulcan Centaur + Dream Chaser IMO, this one is the least likely. There are a lot of problems that need to be over come for Dream Chaser to be crew rated. And AFAIK, they aren't getting NASA money to do it.

dang 2y ago

Related. Others? Boeing and NASA call off Starliner crew launch minutes before liftoff - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40547338 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40547338 - June 2024 (47 comments) Boeing's Starliner Crew Flight Test delayed again, path forward unclear - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40434398 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40434398 - May 2024 (28 comments) Boeing Starliner's first crewed mission scrubbed - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40281272 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40281272 - May 2024 (162 comments) NASA and Boeing Are (Finally) Putting Astronauts on Starliner - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39843148 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39843148 - March 2024 (9 comments) Boeing has now lost $1.1B on Starliner, with no crew flight in sight - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36879769 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36879769 - July 2023 (218 comments) NASA safety panel skeptical of Starliner readiness for crewed flight - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36085531 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36085531 - May 2023 (27 comments) Boeing to ground Starliner indefinitely until valve issue solved - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28185195 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28185195 - Aug 2021 (42 comments) Boeing Starliner's flight's flaws show “fundamental problem,” NASA says - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22297564 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22297564 - Feb 2020 (140 comments) NASA Shares Initial Findings from Boeing Starliner Orbital Test Investigation - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22266747 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22266747 - Feb 2020 (14 comments) Starliner faced “catastrophic” failure before software bug found - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22260731 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22260731 - Feb 2020 (60 comments) Boeing reports a $410M charge in case NASA decides Starliner needs another test - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22194735 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22194735 - Jan 2020 (55 comments) Boeing Starliner updates: Spacecraft flies into wrong orbit, jeopardizing test - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21843988 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21843988 - Dec 2019 (240 comments) New Spacesuit Unveiled for Starliner Astronauts - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13488096 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13488096 - Jan 2017 (65 comments) Boeing-SpaceX Team Split Space Taxi Award - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8326845 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8326845 - Sept 2014 (115 comments) NASA to Make Major Announcement Today About Astronaut Transport to the ISS - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8324848 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8324848 - Sept 2014 (43 comments) SpaceX Vies With Boeing as NASA’s Taxi to Station - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8296567 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8296567 - Sept 2014 (49 comments)

wigster 2y ago

boeing + spaceflight. they are braver than i

cooper_ganglia 2y ago
No one can hear you blow a whistle in space.
Diederich 2y ago
Yeah this morning I was thinking about what the astronauts must be thinking. I would ride the Atlas/Centaur stack, it's been exceedingly reliable. Starliner itself? Not quite yet, given its checkered history. Boeing brings up nothing but sadness in me these days. I really, really, really want that company to succeed and be awesome. Hopefully going forward Starliner will bring forward the excellence that has been Boeing in the past.
tootie 2y ago
Despite headlines, air travel gets safer and safer every year. At least when measured by fatalities per departure. Boeing has had several high profile failures, but it's correlated with a huge increase in flights and a huge increase in expectations.
- wkat4242 2y ago
  The problem is more that those failures were entirely preventable and caused by decisions that prioritised economic motives over security. And the manufacturer was squarely to blame, which is also not the case in most accidents. Even when the industry overall is doing pretty well, we should still scrutinize every incident. There's no such thing as acceptable fatalities.
  - fjgvcjygjvh 2y ago
    To be fair the airlines possibly share a slight proportion of the blame. They could have made sure that the pilots received proper training (or at least a fraction of it). There might be a reason why both incidents happened in third world countries...

WhackyIdeas 2y ago

[flagged]

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
dinglestepup 2y ago
What?
- WhackyIdeas 2y ago
  Boeing are a morally rich company for the peace and hope their products bring to the children of Gaza.
  - dinglestepup 2y ago
    .
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
      - deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
  - goryramsy 2y ago
    At least your honest with your username.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    - WhackyIdeas 2y ago
      In the same way I would find it hard to read praise on a Jimmy Saville story, I find it hard to read praise on a company which is making the bombs which are killing little children en masse in Gaza. Whacky is the world.

skc 2y ago

Ever since I finished all 4 seasons of "For All Mankind" I've been eating up news like this. Truly awe inspiring stuff happening these days

AnarchismIsCool 2y ago
Everyone who likes space stuff should go watch it. They focus too much on marriage drama for my taste and they kinda jump the shark in the later seasons, but the first season is a love letter to a past that should have existed, and in a way I can't express with words. I work in the aerospace industry and just watching a depiction of it in a universe where people still just...gave a shit...especially about something other than money, brings about a whole spectrum of emotions.
- semireg 2y ago
  I loved the first season so much. But for the love of god, I should have stopped long before I became mad at it’s absurd drama.
- ThrowawayTestr 2y ago
  The pseudo-incest really wasn't necessary but the rest is really good.
- aksss 2y ago
  I ended up fast forwarding through almost all the family-related drama. It did get absurd, as the seasons wore on they let the wrong writers get more and more pages. Just like star trek, space became a backdrop for a bland soap opera.
- AdamN 2y ago
  First couple of episodes were awesome - the constructed drama became a deadweight though and I couldn't endure.
roer 2y ago
And there's another Starship test today as well! Space fans are getting spoiled recently, and I'm all for it.

KenArrari 2y ago

I hope someone double checked those doors.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

ConcernedCoder 2y ago

I'm glad everything went ok.

divbzero 2y ago

Photographs of the launch from Reuters: https://reuters.com/pictures/boeings-starliner-blasts-off-first-crewed-flight-into-orbit-2024-06-05/ https://reuters.com/pictures/boeings-starliner-blasts-off-fi...

deciplex 2y ago

I would say that the one redeeming quality of Elon Musk (in a sea of otherwise awful personality traits) is that for at least Tesla and SpaceX, that he was interested in running those companies primarily to produce a product. Like that was the primary focus and raison d'être of both of those companies, especially SpaceX I think. This is in opposition to the usual "the only point of a business is to make money" ethos that so permeates neoliberal capitalism that we hardly even notice it anymore. The latter is dysfunctional, inhuman, and ultimately bad for business. I don't know if he still takes that approach. In fact, I kind of doubt he ever really did, but he certainly projected that image publicly, and most importantly to workers of those companies - whether he "really believed" it I guess is a moot point. When you take the "businesses exist to return a profit to shareholders" approach you're always going to focus on leadership that has a track record of doing that, even if that excludes building a good product or for that matter even the long-term viability of the business. Thus, you see these CEO hires that don't seem to make sense - most of us unconsciously still think of businesses as things created to make a thing or do a specific thing, because that's a natural thing to believe. Anyway I think you can attribute some of the success of both to this, as well as Musk's public image at least ca 2008-2018 or so.

gibolt 2y ago
Most people who have worked close to him generally note that he has intimate knowledge up and down the entire product side (at minimum) of the company. This can lead to micro-management, but leads to far better results than most companies could ever hope to achieve. Communication and agreement are what add cost and misdirection to development. When a tiny set of people with one clear goal pull the strings, it is much more efficient to reach the north star product.
- deciplex 2y ago
  This seems like an argument for a command economy.
dsco 2y ago
Why do people always have to preface Elon praise with some initial criticism. The man has objectively created some incredible businesses.

surume 2y ago

Unfortunately one of the doors came off mid-flight...

LightBug1 2y ago

Excellent ... we need alternatives and competition in space.

dmix 2y ago
This is probably the definition of the gov rejecting competition and choosing the absolute “safest” option, and just happens to still be around when others are nipping at their heels

dm03514 2y ago

This is a n00b question, but how do regulations apply to private human crewed missions in the US? Are there clear guidelines already written? I’m assuming it inherits a lot of rules of general aviation? But since private firms launching into space is new, do the rules and regulations keep up? Or are they still to be written?

gamepsys 2y ago
US regulation applies. On top of US regulation, basically every nation will see you as a potential security risk because the difference between an ICBM and space launch rocket is mostly payload and flight path.
manquer 2y ago
Rocket regulations apply including ITAR, FAA and others for any payload human or cargo launched on any vehicle . The launch doesn’t have to be even to launched from the US, rocket lab have to comply with them even when launching from New Zealand. There are host of rules that NASA has for human spaceflight these are not regulations per se. Till now NASA has been the only buyer[1][2] of human spaceflights or the destination has been ISS which is jointly managed by them so even private operators to comply with these rules. SpaceX and now Boeing human rate their spacecrafts to these specifications to allow them to compete for commercial crew contracts or dock to ISS[4]. In the next few years this will change, NASA is research organization not a regulatory authority sooner or later regulations have to move to either FAA or another new entity. Currently no regulations exist for space proper. FAA does control a lot of launch related items, but don’t regulate things like spacesuits that now spaceX is developing currently. There are no strict limits to FAA authority they do control Virgin rocket planes although it does cross the US defined line for space . Knowing Musk’s temperament, what is likely to happen is FAA will try to extend their authority that he deems is overreach and he will sue in court saying they have no jurisdiction, either Supreme Court will say they do (not likely in Robert’s court) or congress will have pass law regulating this ( less likely in current congress it is too dysfunctional) but these things may change in the next few years when it does happen —- [1] Axiom buys private launches from spaceX but they still dock to ISS so I expect NASA rules apply. [2] Jared Issacman’s last mission was the true first fully private mission to space but still used mostly stock Dragon so they mostly likely followed NASA rules [3] all this from US perspective , Soyuz and China has capabilities and Soyuz and also in Mir space station have had some commercial flights of course [4] only place you can go today , end of this decade there maybe private station or moon or even mars but not today

qwertox 2y ago

One thing which surprised me a bit was how fast it left the launch pad. It took just a second or a little bit more. With Starship it appeared as if it was struggling to lift off, staying for a while burning fuel until it left the launch pad and even then it felt a bit slow at accelerating. I'll see tomorrow if it was just an illusion.

ericbarrett 2y ago
This has to do with the launch vehicle's thrust to weight ratio (TWR) on the ground with a full tank. It's usually between 1.1 and 1.4. The Russian Proton has a famously high ground TWR and is known for "leaping" off the pad. Maybe Starliner is the same in this initial crewed LEO config.
Ductapemaster 2y ago
I’m not a rocket scientist but I do know the two rockets use different propellants. The Atlas V uses solid propellant, and the Starship uses liquid. I know liquid engines have the ability to throttle them, and I would guess solid does not (or a more limited capacity) so that could be at play here. Starship could ignite and then throttle up, which would leave it on the pad longer. I’m sure someone more knowledgeable than I can clarify!
- fastball 2y ago
  Only the SRBs use solid propellant (APCP). The first stage is kerolox and the upper stage is hydrolox. Although you are a bit off the mark, you did actually hit on the likely reason for the faster liftoff, which is that the SRBs have a much higher thrust-to-weight ratio than the SpaceX Superheavy booster.
rdruxn 2y ago
Starship (including the Super Heavy) weighs about 10x as much as the Starliner (including the Atlas V)
gorkish 2y ago
For one, Starship is 392 ft vs 172ft of Atlas V + Starliner. Even if they accelerate off the pad at the same rate, Starship is going to look like it's moving a lot slower.

protocolture 2y ago

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black_13 2y ago

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slimebot80 2y ago

Funny, on Twitter I've clicked through to every "For You", "Trending", "News", etc section. It's not mentioned once. I always see majestic rocket photography promoted on Twitter. Why not today? I thought Twitter was the worlds #1 news source.

jeff_vader 2y ago

On top of problems with helium leaks there's now another issue[1]: > Starliner has been given a go to hold at 260 meters from the space station. During the approach two reaction control system jets have failed off. A manual flight test has been put on hold while flight controllers look to restore those jets with a hot fire. [1]: https://x.com/SpaceflightNow/status/1798738262368104639 https://x.com/SpaceflightNow/status/1798738262368104639

openmarmot 2y ago
some updates here as well. https://www.space.com/news/live/boeing-starliner-live-updates https://www.space.com/news/live/boeing-starliner-live-update... keeping my fingers crossed that everything works out. must be very tense for the astronauts. update : issues mitigated, starliner has docked with the ISS. yes!