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NASA has strong military roots and astronauts used to as well; the “do what they’re told” fits that’s motiff.
by laweijfmvo 2y ago
NASA has strong military roots and astronauts used to as well; the “do what they’re told” fits that’s motiff.
- alwa 2y agoI mean also they seem smart enough to have some intellectual and epistemological modesty. If I’m the guy or woman floating around in space, I have to imagine that the collective brainpower on the ground is better-informed to make that judgment than I am.
- ClumsyPilot 2y agoTwo issues with that approach: 1 - do they have the right incentives, is there colossal pressure to save face from Boeing? Politics? This happened before 2 - lack of accountability - this is not a question of property that can be compensated if they are wrong. they can’t die instead of you. Your family expects to see you again, and you are responsible. There in no prize for being ‘Dead right’
- alwa 2y agoVery true, but am I, sitting up in space, in a position to have enough information to act on either of these concerns? I can imagine a situation where I have a gut instinct that “this thing is just squirrelly, I don’t trust it.” But if I don’t have that instinctive reaction, how am I to know which return option is more reliable? They successfully docked despite the anomalies, and it doesn’t seem to have led them to say “like hell I’m flying that deathtrap back.” At some level aren’t everyone’s incentives, including Boeing’s, aligned around getting everyone home alive? Sure Boeing’s risk appetite may look different, but wouldn’t even Boeing rate the loss of the return capsule as a catastrophic outcome? Wouldn’t I, as an astronaut, have priced Boeing’s incentives in to my decision not to put my foot down? And don’t I have to trust the ground team with my life before I let them strap me onto a space rocket in the first place?