…just went dark. Anyone know why?

Did the astronauts have to quarantine before the launch on the Starliner? I know the launch was delayed multiple times so presume they stayed quarantine waiting for the next opportunity to launch. How long have they been on their own. Obviously won’t be coming back til February. Thanks

There was a live view of Starliner from ISS during yesterday’s broadcast and was wondering if there is extended footage available. It looks really cool as it appears to be a Nikon camera and was wondering if an astronaut shot it.

Nappi's comments, and Boeing's absence at the press conference, suggest Boeing is considering killing the program. Maybe I am overthinking the part where he said they will review and determine the next steps for the program. The new CEO has to look at this and all programs and review the return to shareholders. Does continuing Starliner make financial sense? And NASA cannot provide any commitment. There will almost certainly be a new administrator next year and the agency is now ruled by anonymous sources leaking to the press, not the administrator. So even if Nelson gave Boeing assurances, they would be meaningless. There is no way Boeing will ever commit to another flight test and it's questionable whether they will even spend the money necessary to fix the doghouse/thruster issues (the helium leak seems easier). Look for news of Starliner program layoffs before year-end.

A fair practical return situation would be to place ballast onboard to fill in for the weight of the absent crew members. That ballast could be a rare scientific opportunity.

If this was done, what was brought back?

I'm assuming there would be numerous shared experiment material onboard, exposed to the environment up there, that the scientific staff back on earth wouldn't mind in their hands on, to use additional/extensive equipment that might not be on the ISS.

Perfect flight home!

If I recall correctly Starliner returns to White Sands NM tomorrow. Will it be possible to see the return from the NM area? If so, what direction should on be looking from Northern NM?

Coming in from the West, SW or NW? (Sept 6th.)

Something I’ve been thinking about recently…

The most recent Soyuz MS has not had a stellar record. MS-09 had a hole drilled into its orbital module, MS-10 had a launch abort and MS-23 had a coolant leak (caused by a micro-meteorite impact), that forced Roscosmos to send a replacement Soyuz.

NASA was apparently spooked enough by all this that they first initiated their “SpaceX lifeboat” plan of strapping astronaut to the floor like cargo in the event of a future Soyuz failure and emergency evacuation. They’re using those same plans for Butch and Suni now.

With all of that said, NASA is planning to send Don Pettit on MS-26 and Jonny Kim on MS-27.

A couple of thoughts… Maybe NASA just trusts Soyuz more than Starliner. It’s a decades old design and while it’s had issues, they’re not major and they have a lot of built up trust.

Or, NASA doesn’t trust Soyuz all that much, but they think it’s critical to have access to the station. They’re concerned something will happen to Dragon/Falcon before Starliner is certified, and they need to have a way to get an astronaut to the station to do minimum maintenance on the USOS.

Is seems to me that the decision to fly Starliner back unmanned, the flaws, is representative of the attitude of perfectionism at NASA. They are also too objective.

What's with all the helium leaks? I thought it was just a Starliner problem!

Can someone please explain why this is such a big deal? Are the astronauts stuck only on their little shuttle and can't go on the ISS? Are resources running out? Why don't they just come back to Earth? No websites seem to answer all of my questions, so hopefully you guys will be able to.

From page 14 of the contract

"The Contractor shall complete the design, development, test, evaluation, and certification of an integrated CTS capable of transporting NASA crew to and from the ISS, in accordance with the design reference missions and the certification standards and requirements specified in this contract. Certification of the CTS shall be determined by NASA."

Nowhere does it say they actually have to transport crew from the ISS, only that the CTS is capable of doing so. A successful landing of Starliner would demonstrate this. NASA managers discussed this option at the press conference.