News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on SpaceX launches rescue mission for 2 NASA astronauts who are stuck on the ISS. Parent comment

Re:SpaceX launches rescue mission for 2 NASA astronauts who ... by charles_f on Sunday September 29, 2024 @01:36AM (#41685176)
They didn't come back, though. It's still a success in the sense that it was a test mission and determining there was a problem is valuable, but Starliner is not ready
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:SpaceX launches rescue mission for 2 NASA astronauts who ... by ethbr1 on Sunday September 29, 2024 @09:23AM (#41687216)
Considering both recent US vehicle losses have been on re-entry, I feel NASA is vindicated on being ultra-conservative around that stage.

So anomalies that might be acceptable during ascent would be unacceptable during decent.

Personally? I'm glad Boeing launched.

I wish they were perfect technically, but I also realize that an infinite amount of time and money doesn't protect against unknown-unknowns.

IMHO, they should be operating more like SpaceX (and the earlier days of the US space program) -- using calculated risk and engineering to decide when it's reasonable to do an inherently risky thing, when doing so is needed to move the entire program forward.

[ Parent | on HN ]