posted 09-13-2024 06:54 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by issman1:
All concerned had "go fever" and paid the price.

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posted 09-20-2024 06:41 PM               

The company said Theodore "Ted" Colbert III was removed immediately as president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security and replaced temporarily by the division's chief operating officer, Steve Parker. A search is underway for a permanent replacement.

Colbert spent 15 years at Boeing, serving as chief information officer and leading its global-services business before running the defense unit.

Kelly Ortberg, who took over as Boeing CEO last month, said in a memo announcing Colbert's departure, "At this critical juncture, our priority is to restore the trust of our customers and meet the high standards they expect of us to enable their critical missions around the world. Working together we can and will improve our performance and ensure we deliver on our commitments."

posted 04-01-2025 03:08 PM               

Essentially, Wilmore could fully control Starliner any longer. But simply abandoning the docking attempt was not a palatable solution. Just as the thrusters were needed to control the vehicle during the docking process, they were also necessary to position Starliner for its deorbit burn and reentry to Earth's atmosphere. So Wilmore had to contemplate whether it was riskier to approach the space station or try to fly back to Earth. Williams was worrying about the same thing.

Williams: "There was a lot of unsaid communication, like, 'Hey, this is a very precarious situation we're in.' I think both of us overwhelmingly felt like it would be really nice to dock to that space station that's right in front of us. We knew that they [Mission Control] were working really hard to be able to keep communication with us, and then be able to send commands. We were both thinking, what if we lose communication with the ground? So NORDO Con Ops (this means flying a vehicle without a radio), and we didn't talk about it too much, but we already had synced in our mind that we should go to the space station. This is our place that we need to probably go to, to have a conversation because we don't know exactly what is happening, why the thrusters are falling off, and what the solution would be."

Wilmore: "I don't know that we can come back to Earth at that point. I don't know if we can. And matter of fact, I'm thinking we probably can't. So there we are, loss of 6DOF control, four aft thrusters down, and I'm visualizing orbital mechanics. The space station is nose down. So we're not exactly level with the station, but below it. If you're below the station, you're moving faster. That's orbital mechanics. It's going to make you move away from the station. So I'm doing all of this in my mind. I don't know what control I have. What if I lose another thruster? What if we lose comm? What am I going to do?"

posted 04-02-2025 12:34 PM               

I went back and listened to the CFT post docking NASA media call. I was curious to see how it lined up with the latest info, nearly a year later.

I expected to do a big thread noting the changes but to my surprise (and relief) I have to say it holds up well. In fact it was like I was reading the Berger article again it matched so well.

Now the tone is obviously pretty optimistic but I don't think they should've been super alarmist in a briefing directly after docking.

They don't mention the loss of control for 6DOF, but they do list out all the thrusters that failed in detail and I guess if any of us had taken the time we would've been able to tell.

Knowing what we know now though I actually do read more concern/relief into their statements than I did when I watched this live.

As of now I don't know if I have the motivation to do the full homework and rewatch all of the Starliner media calls from June to September of last year. But I am relieved to say that the first one I consider accurate, which I actually did not expect.

Obviously they could have been more stern or critical. But that is kind of out of character for them, as they haven't really taken that stance with any program/contractor. And this was so early in the storyline they really didn't have much info, and despite the troubles were also happy at that point Starliner brought crew to the station. They've probably never had one as bad as Starliner so it is new territory.

I've always found NASA human spaceflight engineers, like those on the Starliner media calls, to be fairly straightforward and honest. I don't believe I have ever been straight up lied to by a NASA program official. I feel I can generally trust what they say, which is healthy.

posted 04-04-2025 09:20 PM               

Further, there is a crew member on every expedition who is appointed USOS lead, whose job it is to brief the ISS commander on what is happening. So whoever that was, was keeping Kononenko informed.