7 ms·

Imagine going to space for what you think is 8 days and Boeing messes up so bad you get stuck there for like 8 months instead. Maybe really cool, but maybe a ni

Imagine going to space for what you think is 8 days and Boeing messes up so bad you get stuck there for like 8 months instead. Maybe really cool, but maybe a nightmare?

iancmceachern 2y ago
Reminds me if Gilligan's Island ...a three hour tour...
- m463 2y ago
  I remember the episode where a space capsule flew over the island. They wrote SOS in big letters, but somehow Gilligan managed to mess things up and it became SOL. Of course one of the astronauts was named Sol and saw his name on the island as a tribute...
enraged_camel 2y ago
Going out on a limb here but astronaut training involves being prepared (physically, mentally and otherwise) for all eventualities, including delays like this probably. Sucks for their families though.
kotaKat 2y ago
And not to forget, they traveled up without their personal clothing or handpicked hygiene items. They had to give those up for parts to repair the toilet on the ISS and are using the station's stocked contingency supplies. https://www.floridatoday.com/story/tech/science/space/2024/05/31/nasa-astronauts-launch-boeing-starliner-space-station-iss-ula-atlas-v-cape-canaveral/73923358007/ https://www.floridatoday.com/story/tech/science/space/2024/0...
- lysace 2y ago
  There's no unmanned supply mission planned before they get to go home?
  - HarHarVeryFunny 2y ago
    There's one just went up a day or two ago. According to Google they go every couple of months.
  - tagami 2y ago
    NG-21 just arrived with extra supplies for the extended crew stay. There is a domino effect though. Other payload must be removed to add additional mass. My company has two missions scheduled for SpX-31 - currently on the calendar for 24 SEP - but NYT is reporting crew dragon is moving from 18 AUG to this date. The schedule is always fluid with rocket launches. Awaiting confirmation.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
alexhutcheson 2y ago
[flagged]
thedman9052 2y ago
Astronauts historically work closely with the people that build their spacecraft. I wonder how much they knew going in and how confident they really were. They decided to go through with the mission, but there was surely an immense amount of pressure on them to do so. Can you imagine the political firestorm if one of them refused? It would ground them for sure.
TheCondor 2y ago
They are astronauts... There is some amount of expectation that the rocket will blow up before they get in to space. Nobody wants it, but they are the best of us and they are courageous as heck. To be completely honest, the news cycle this summer has been so wild; I kind of forgot they were up there until today. That is something that it seems like they might not have trained the astronauts for, and that's really scary. That and there might be some sort of business politics involved in the plan to get home. We're all sort of engineers here, given the choice, suppose Boeing thought they could land you next week or you would wait until 2025 and ride a Dragon down. Which would you pick?
- htrp 2y ago
  I think most astronauts and wannabe astronauts would prefer as much time in space as they could get.
  - nullfield 2y ago
    I admit I didn’t think of this, but… without another science mission or something, what do they do up there? This said, yeah, I wouldn’t want to come back on Boeing hardware with Dragon available.
    - TheCondor 2y ago
      According to the audio: https://www.youtube.com/live/DYPL6bx87yM https://www.youtube.com/live/DYPL6bx87yM they are helping with standard ISS tasks, like operational maintenance and it is greatly appreciated.
    - bityard 2y ago
      I don't follow Space Stuff as much as I'd like to, but one impression that I have always had is that there is _never_ a lack of stuff for astronauts to do up there. An astronaut's time and resources are just too damn expensive to have them up there just hanging out. Outside of their fairly limited personal leisure time, they have a strict down-to-the-minute schedule handed down to them by mission planners that they must follow if they want to keep their jobs past the next landing. Including when to sleep and when to eat. (Of course, I assume the astronauts are allowed to request a change to their schedule if it's for a good reason.) Common tasks include running tests and maintenance on the station itself and monitoring/performing various science experiments. Perhaps doing a few NASA PR bits, media interviews and short chats with school children over the radio. I once read an article that said the vast majority of the actual work NASA does is "contingency" work that is never actually ends up being used. The problem is that while a mission is under development (or even well underway), you don't always know how things are going to shake out. So you hedge your bets by doing as much preparation and exploration of alternatives as you can, and try to pick the right one at the right time, or as the situation evolves. I guarantee there are entire teams on the ground working _right this second_ on a draft schedule for keeping the two "extra" astronauts gainfully contributing to ISS activities, even though it's not certain that they will be there.
gojomo 2y ago
Even if up for 8 months – and returning to a US with a different President, perhaps even a different party-of-the-President, they'll not match the experience of Sergei Krikalev – who traveled to the space station Mir for the USSR, & was for a while stuck there when the USSR dissolved, only returning 311 days later: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Krikalev https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Krikalev He later became the 1st cosmonaut to fly on the US Space Shuttle: https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/people/p-c-krikalev.htm https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/p...
- spoonfeeder006 2y ago
  That would be an absolute dream for me
  - quakeguy 2y ago
    May i ask why?
    - spoonfeeder006 2y ago
      [flagged]
      - aekotra 2y ago
        [flagged]
        amy-petrik-214 2y ago
        he sure was asking that, and the reply sure was, "none of your business"
        woleium 2y ago
        [flagged]
      - Reason077 2y ago
tamimio 2y ago
The same thing can happen to any traveler. Sometimes you plan to stay for a few months and end up staying for 30 years. So, as cliché as it sounds, enjoy the journey, not the destination!
sschueller 2y ago
I would be mostly concerned about the bone loss and health implications some of which can't be reversed.
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago
  > would be mostly concerned about the bone loss and health implications some of which can't be reversed Eight months is well within studied ranges for astronauts.
  - JonChesterfield 2y ago
    Studied and found to be non-damaging, or just studied and sucks to be them?
    - JumpCrisscross 2y ago
      > Studied and found to be non-damaging, or just studied and sucks to be them? Nothing permanent or serious [1][2]. (On the other hand, astronauts' telomeres lengthen during spaceflight [3]. We have no idea why.) [1] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-021-01496-9 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-021-01496-9 [2] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-49211-2 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-49211-2 [3] https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aau8650 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aau8650
      - ChocolateGod 2y ago
        > On the other hand, astronauts' telomeres lengthen during spaceflight I wonder if this is partially the reason (along with great healthcare benefits) why so many Apollo astronauts have live passed the average life expectancy in the US.
        JumpCrisscross 2y ago
        > why so many Apollo astronauts have live passed the average life expectancy in the US The effect reverses within days of return to Earth. The reason astronauts live longer is their physical training more than compensates for the damage done to their bodies in space.

Imagine going to space for what you think is 8 days and Boeing messes up so bad you get stuck there for like 8 months instead. Maybe really cool, but maybe a nightmare?

iancmceachern 2y ago

Reminds me if Gilligan's Island ...a three hour tour...

m463 2y ago
I remember the episode where a space capsule flew over the island. They wrote SOS in big letters, but somehow Gilligan managed to mess things up and it became SOL. Of course one of the astronauts was named Sol and saw his name on the island as a tribute...

enraged_camel 2y ago

Going out on a limb here but astronaut training involves being prepared (physically, mentally and otherwise) for all eventualities, including delays like this probably. Sucks for their families though.

kotaKat 2y ago

And not to forget, they traveled up without their personal clothing or handpicked hygiene items. They had to give those up for parts to repair the toilet on the ISS and are using the station's stocked contingency supplies. https://www.floridatoday.com/story/tech/science/space/2024/05/31/nasa-astronauts-launch-boeing-starliner-space-station-iss-ula-atlas-v-cape-canaveral/73923358007/ https://www.floridatoday.com/story/tech/science/space/2024/0...

lysace 2y ago
There's no unmanned supply mission planned before they get to go home?
- HarHarVeryFunny 2y ago
  There's one just went up a day or two ago. According to Google they go every couple of months.
- tagami 2y ago
  NG-21 just arrived with extra supplies for the extended crew stay. There is a domino effect though. Other payload must be removed to add additional mass. My company has two missions scheduled for SpX-31 - currently on the calendar for 24 SEP - but NYT is reporting crew dragon is moving from 18 AUG to this date. The schedule is always fluid with rocket launches. Awaiting confirmation.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

alexhutcheson 2y ago

[flagged]

thedman9052 2y ago

Astronauts historically work closely with the people that build their spacecraft. I wonder how much they knew going in and how confident they really were. They decided to go through with the mission, but there was surely an immense amount of pressure on them to do so. Can you imagine the political firestorm if one of them refused? It would ground them for sure.

TheCondor 2y ago

They are astronauts... There is some amount of expectation that the rocket will blow up before they get in to space. Nobody wants it, but they are the best of us and they are courageous as heck. To be completely honest, the news cycle this summer has been so wild; I kind of forgot they were up there until today. That is something that it seems like they might not have trained the astronauts for, and that's really scary. That and there might be some sort of business politics involved in the plan to get home. We're all sort of engineers here, given the choice, suppose Boeing thought they could land you next week or you would wait until 2025 and ride a Dragon down. Which would you pick?

htrp 2y ago
I think most astronauts and wannabe astronauts would prefer as much time in space as they could get.
- nullfield 2y ago
  I admit I didn’t think of this, but… without another science mission or something, what do they do up there? This said, yeah, I wouldn’t want to come back on Boeing hardware with Dragon available.
  - TheCondor 2y ago
    According to the audio: https://www.youtube.com/live/DYPL6bx87yM https://www.youtube.com/live/DYPL6bx87yM they are helping with standard ISS tasks, like operational maintenance and it is greatly appreciated.
  - bityard 2y ago
    I don't follow Space Stuff as much as I'd like to, but one impression that I have always had is that there is _never_ a lack of stuff for astronauts to do up there. An astronaut's time and resources are just too damn expensive to have them up there just hanging out. Outside of their fairly limited personal leisure time, they have a strict down-to-the-minute schedule handed down to them by mission planners that they must follow if they want to keep their jobs past the next landing. Including when to sleep and when to eat. (Of course, I assume the astronauts are allowed to request a change to their schedule if it's for a good reason.) Common tasks include running tests and maintenance on the station itself and monitoring/performing various science experiments. Perhaps doing a few NASA PR bits, media interviews and short chats with school children over the radio. I once read an article that said the vast majority of the actual work NASA does is "contingency" work that is never actually ends up being used. The problem is that while a mission is under development (or even well underway), you don't always know how things are going to shake out. So you hedge your bets by doing as much preparation and exploration of alternatives as you can, and try to pick the right one at the right time, or as the situation evolves. I guarantee there are entire teams on the ground working _right this second_ on a draft schedule for keeping the two "extra" astronauts gainfully contributing to ISS activities, even though it's not certain that they will be there.

gojomo 2y ago

Even if up for 8 months – and returning to a US with a different President, perhaps even a different party-of-the-President, they'll not match the experience of Sergei Krikalev – who traveled to the space station Mir for the USSR, & was for a while stuck there when the USSR dissolved, only returning 311 days later: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Krikalev https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Krikalev He later became the 1st cosmonaut to fly on the US Space Shuttle: https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/people/p-c-krikalev.htm https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/p...

spoonfeeder006 2y ago
That would be an absolute dream for me
- quakeguy 2y ago
  May i ask why?
  - spoonfeeder006 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - aekotra 2y ago
      [flagged]
      - amy-petrik-214 2y ago
        he sure was asking that, and the reply sure was, "none of your business"
      - woleium 2y ago
        [flagged]
    - Reason077 2y ago

tamimio 2y ago

The same thing can happen to any traveler. Sometimes you plan to stay for a few months and end up staying for 30 years. So, as cliché as it sounds, enjoy the journey, not the destination!

sschueller 2y ago

I would be mostly concerned about the bone loss and health implications some of which can't be reversed.

JumpCrisscross 2y ago
> would be mostly concerned about the bone loss and health implications some of which can't be reversed Eight months is well within studied ranges for astronauts.
- JonChesterfield 2y ago
  Studied and found to be non-damaging, or just studied and sucks to be them?
  - JumpCrisscross 2y ago
    > Studied and found to be non-damaging, or just studied and sucks to be them? Nothing permanent or serious [1][2]. (On the other hand, astronauts' telomeres lengthen during spaceflight [3]. We have no idea why.) [1] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-021-01496-9 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-021-01496-9 [2] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-49211-2 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-49211-2 [3] https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aau8650 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aau8650
    - ChocolateGod 2y ago
      > On the other hand, astronauts' telomeres lengthen during spaceflight I wonder if this is partially the reason (along with great healthcare benefits) why so many Apollo astronauts have live passed the average life expectancy in the US.
      - JumpCrisscross 2y ago
        > why so many Apollo astronauts have live passed the average life expectancy in the US The effect reverses within days of return to Earth. The reason astronauts live longer is their physical training more than compensates for the damage done to their bodies in space.