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Boeing's Starliner


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1 hour ago, Flavio hc16 said:

nasa-indefinitely-delays-return-of-starliner-to-review-propulsion-data/

The first space settlement. Now it's official.

Edited by kerbiloid
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2 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

The first space settlement. Now it's official.

They should have done full duration tests of the helium tanks

My late grandfather used to say of his least favorite brand of pickup truck (brand name withheld here because of rules against religious  discussion)

"Oh, yeah, it'll get you there.  But you may have to walk back.  Take good shoes."

Wise man he was

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They have to do any testing on the SM right now at ISS, cause once they head home, the SM is quickly expended. They are trying to characterize issues while they can—their flight cadence is very low, and currently constrained by the few remaining Atlas V they bought.

The uncertainty is a bad look, however.

For a company that changed corporate culture from being led by engineers to being led by financial/marketing people (that's the way I usually see it described, anyway), you'd think they'd have a better sense of the optics. They'd have done better to pick a day out towards the end of possible stays, and had a presser saying that they decided to make the most of this flight, and test the vehicle over a longer duration since the schedule allows it. Instead, they keep picking return dates, then cancelling them—which looks like there is a problem keeping them there.

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15 hours ago, tater said:

For a company that changed corporate culture from being led by engineers to being led by financial/marketing people....

The CEO of Boeing during its period of great success in the 1960's and 1970's was an accountant.  When the moto was "Working Together" and was true.  Who listened to his engineers and made sure things worked as an engineering firm.  3-video series by YouTube creator Mentour Pilot on his other channel Mentour Now!  On Boeing and how it lost its way, as well as 3 more Boeing videos on recent crap.  Each video is uder 25 minutes.  It's a case study in how so much crap has infected corporate governance since the 1970's.

Spoiler

Boeing’s Downfall - Before the McDonnell Douglas Merger
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym41Iz68j4s

Boeings’s Downfall - “Greed is Good” the McDonnell Douglas Merger
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCbHpJShoXk

Boeing’s Downfall - Going for the MAX!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCpvWcAO6yI

Whistleblowers Vs Boeing: What Happened?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2J1dQeQ1vJc

Did Boeing Trick Airbus Into a $25 Billion Mistake?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ-UqnHtCrEBoeing Desperately needs a New Leader, but WHO?!

Boeing Desperately needs a New Leader, but WHO?!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlegE-eCaxQ&t=160s

 

 

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19 hours ago, darthgently said:

"Oh, yeah, it'll get you there.  But you may have to walk back.  Take good shoes."

I will tell you something: it's a hell of a long walk from ISS to Edwards AFB...

 

38 minutes ago, Jacke said:

The CEO of Boeing during its period of great success in the 1960's and 1970's was an accountant.  When the moto was "Working Together" and was true.  Who listened to his engineers and made sure things worked as an engineering firm. 

Yep, I used to use that mantra too - but then I realized that Dennis Muilenburg is an engineer. Graduation is not synonymous for competence and honesty.

The problem is that, now, being honest and competent is not enough - AFAIK Dave Calhoun took bad decisions because he's not an engineer, and can't foresee all the consequences of some decisions. He had to cut costs, otherwise there will be no Boeing to worry about quality later, point - but he did it as an airliner was a consumer product. An engineer would know better.

However... To what extend an engineer would take the best financial decisions on the long run? Being a good engineer is completely different from being a good accountant, and Boeing also need someone good on handling money:

Quote

Forget what they taught you on Flight School: what makes an airplane to fly is money.

Hard nut to crack.

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8 hours ago, Jacke said:

The CEO of Boeing during its period of great success in the 1960's and 1970's was an accountant.  When the moto was "Working Together" and was true.  

  Reveal hidden contents

Boeing’s Downfall - Before the McDonnell Douglas Merger
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym41Iz68j4s

Boeings’s Downfall - “Greed is Good” the McDonnell Douglas Merger
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCbHpJShoXk

Boeing’s Downfall - Going for the MAX!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCpvWcAO6yI

Whistleblowers Vs Boeing: What Happened?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2J1dQeQ1vJc

Did Boeing Trick Airbus Into a $25 Billion Mistake?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ-UqnHtCrEBoeing Desperately needs a New Leader, but WHO?!

Boeing Desperately needs a New Leader, but WHO?!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlegE-eCaxQ&t=160s

 

"Working Together" was the catchphrase and design program philosophy associated with the 777 development in the early '90s. The first 777 aircraft was christened that as a result. Allan Mulallay is credited with coming up with the philosophy in his role as the Boeing 777 program's director of engineering (and later the program's lead as vice-president and general manager). The "Working Together" program resulted in Boeing working closely with airlines and regulators when they developed the 777. 

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The Corporate problems actually started in the late 90s, during and after the merger with McDonnell Douglas. That was when the Jack Welch disciples got control of the executive suites. "Shareholder Value" was quite possibly the most damaging B-School fad to ever hit US industry.

That was when all the outsourcing kicked in hard. The idea was to figure out the parts of the process that were really valuable (for shareholder profit) and retain those, while outsourcing anything that was less profitable. But aerospace vehicles are SYSTEMS, and everything is only as good as the weakest link. Even more importantly, when you give away the work, you also give away your control of the work.

Also ... Airbus pretty famously (infamously?) decided that pilots could not be trusted to fly the airplanes, and tried to make the airplanes as "pilot-proof" as possible. Boeing traditionally held that the airplane should always do what the pilots asked it to do, and this ultimately bit them very hard with the two Max crashes. Both of those airplanes were flyable. In fact, a Lion Air crew had the same problem on the same airplane the day before the fatal crash, but simply turned off the automatic trim system (like they had been trained to do) and safely flew the airplane after that.

Anyway, I would rather see the Starliner team take the time to try to get as much understanding of the issues as possible rather than just return and pretend everything went fine. This is why they call it a test flight, after all. (And of course the safety of the astronauts should be the #1 priority in the decision-making.)

4 hours ago, PakledHostage said:

"Working Together" was the catchphrase and design program philosophy associated with the 777 development in the early '90s. The first 777 aircraft was christened that as a result. Allan Mulallay is credited with coming up with the philosophy in his role as the Boeing 777 program's director of engineering (and later the program's lead as vice-president and general manager). The "Working Together" program resulted in Boeing working closely with airlines and regulators when they developed the 777. 

Alan got passed over for CEO of Boeing and left to become CEO of Ford. He was quite successful there.

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On 6/22/2024 at 5:06 PM, tater said:

They have to do any testing on the SM right now at ISS, cause once they head home, the SM is quickly expended. They are trying to characterize issues while they can—their flight cadence is very low, and currently constrained by the few remaining Atlas V they bought.

The uncertainty is a bad look, however.

For a company that changed corporate culture from being led by engineers to being led by financial/marketing people (that's the way I usually see it described, anyway), you'd think they'd have a better sense of the optics. They'd have done better to pick a day out towards the end of possible stays, and had a presser saying that they decided to make the most of this flight, and test the vehicle over a longer duration since the schedule allows it. Instead, they keep picking return dates, then cancelling them—which looks like there is a problem keeping them there.

Agree, that is the correct way to spin it. Extended stay for more testing and getting more out of the mission. 
Now this require NASA to play along, but setting now is just stupid. More stupid get lots in my feed on YouTube about Starliner being unable to return to earth or something, not clicked on them. 

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3 hours ago, magnemoe said:

Agree, that is the correct way to spin it. Extended stay for more testing and getting more out of the mission. 
Now this require NASA to play along, but setting now is just stupid. More stupid get lots in my feed on YouTube about Starliner being unable to return to earth or something, not clicked on them. 

FWIW, I've heard nothing about it being stranded from someone very involved with the spacecraft.

So if that's a thing it's way above his pay grade.

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On 6/24/2024 at 3:54 AM, tater said:

FWIW, I've heard nothing about it being stranded from someone very involved with the spacecraft.

So if that's a thing it's way above his pay grade.

Its just sensationalist spam stuff from YouTube, probably get it because YouTube know I watch lots of space stuff. 

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On 6/23/2024 at 6:43 PM, magnemoe said:

Agree, that is the correct way to spin it. Extended stay for more testing and getting more out of the mission. 
Now this require NASA to play along, but setting now is just stupid. More stupid get lots in my feed on YouTube about Starliner being unable to return to earth or something, not clicked on them. 

It really is an "emperor's new clothes" moment though.   Everything's under control and going according to the (new) plan which is completely normal, nothing to see here, lol  My only problem is that it was crewed.  Other than that, fail even faster to success Boeing!

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They really need to move to more spacecraft-agnostic launch/landing suits, so in an emergency they can just grab their suit (if needed) and get in the nearest capsule. 
 

Because seriously, what if an emergency forces the ISS to be evacuated, and one capsule is not accessible or is damaged. Then what?

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1 hour ago, StrandedonEarth said:

 

     

1 hour ago, StrandedonEarth said:

They really need to move to more spacecraft-agnostic launch/landing suits, so in an emergency they can just grab their suit (if needed) and get in the nearest capsule. 
 

Because seriously, what if an emergency forces the ISS to be evacuated, and one capsule is not accessible or is damaged. Then what?

I thought I read in these forums or elsewhere that all the vital connectors, like OX, are standardized on ISS across partners.  Maybe I misread or was misinformed

Edited by darthgently
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1 hour ago, StrandedonEarth said:

Because seriously, what if an emergency forces the ISS to be evacuated, and one capsule is not accessible or is damaged. Then what?

Then you just EVA over to the Chinese space station and use their capsule. That worked for Sandra Bullock.

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