Starbase, TX is rapidly overtaking Cape Canaveral, FL. This "extended work opportunity" of sorts is being milked for maximum instrumental utility.
SpaceX launches mission for 2 NASA astronauts who are stuck on the ISS
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Re: SpaceX launches mission for 2 NASA astronauts who are stuck on the ISS
#62Man the reporting on this ordeal has been so awful and so representative of how media misleads the public into thinking things are worse than they actually are. It isn't a rescue mission, it's a regular crew rotation mission with modifications to account for the extra crew left on the station, and those crew are 'stuck' only in the sense that they're expected to stay there as part of their duties and it would be unne…
"It isn't a rescue mission, it's a regular crew rotation mission with modifications..." Rescue definition: an act of saving or being saved from danger or distress . The mission to take astronauts off the space station clearly fits this definition - an extended, unplanned and indefinite stay in space has to be distressing at the least. Has the HN standard become that you can argue the most ridiculous thing if you make…
I can sorta see why some would quibble over "rescue", because it's not like they're in immediate danger, but at the same time they're stranded because their ride malfunctioned and left them somewhere rather inhospitable. And I think "normal and expected crew rotation" as someone put it undersells the fact that while there isn't a special trip for them only, they had to bump other people off the flight just to get them, specifically.
Would people really be that much happier if it was said instead that they were making room for crew marooned by an unsafe spacecraft? I think I'd normally use the word "rescue" there if it was a ship.
But yet it is true that they plan for this kind of thing and that's why they're not in any particularly significant danger due to being marooned.
Re: SpaceX launches mission for 2 NASA astronauts who are stuck on the ISS
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
SpaceX is pretty much America’s space program at this point - absolutely incredible!
Weird way of looking at it. Was Roscosmos “America’s space program” when they were selling the rides?
Currently SpaceX makes up 90% of global launch mass in the past year. It may as well be the western world’s space program pretty soon, with China and Russia only launching their own military payloads.
Re: SpaceX launches mission for 2 NASA astronauts who are stuck on the ISS
#64Starbase, TX is rapidly overtaking Cape Canaveral, FL. This "extended work opportunity" of sorts is being milked for maximum instrumental utility.
what do you mean? crew-9 launched from the cape, like all crewed missions. in fact, it was the first crewed mission to launch from SCL-40 instead of the usual 39a.
Re: SpaceX launches mission for 2 NASA astronauts who are stuck on the ISS
#65> By the time they return, the pair will have logged more than eight months in space. They expected to be gone just a week when they signed up for Boeing’s first astronaut flight that launched in June. What kind of overtime do you think they are clocking?
And will that overtime take into account the effect of time dilation?!
Re: SpaceX launches mission for 2 NASA astronauts who are stuck on the ISS
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
"It isn't a rescue mission, it's a regular crew rotation mission with modifications..." Rescue definition: an act of saving or being saved from danger or distress . The mission to take astronauts off the space station clearly fits this definition - an extended, unplanned and indefinite stay in space has to be distressing at the least. Has the HN standard become that you can argue the most ridiculous thing if you make…
This launch was normal and expected crew rotation, they just kicked a few people off the mission so that there would be open seats on the way back.
Yes, to rescue two other people stranded on the ISS who were supposed to return home weeks ago.
Re: SpaceX launches mission for 2 NASA astronauts who are stuck on the ISS
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a matter of perspective. The mission is what you call it. Sure, it’s not a “rescue”, it’s just an “unplanned itinerary change to another vessel”. Also, they’re not “marooned”, they’re “getting an extended work opportunity”.
So if you ride a ferry on a regular basis (which I'm sure at least a handful of HN folks do) - if that ferry breaks down before the return trip, when you catch the next ferry is that a "rescue mission", or are you just catching the next ferry? Replace ferry with bus, car, taxi, airplane, your transportation mode of choice. Calling this a rescue is, to OPs point, just dramatizing the situation for clicks. In pretty mu…
If you're in the ocean and your ship breaks down and another ship adjusts its plans to come pick you up, is that a rescue?
If there were no changes needed to the subsequent flight to accommodate two additional riders, sure, not a rescue. But there are, and that's important from multiple perspectives (not least of which is cost)
Re: SpaceX launches mission for 2 NASA astronauts who are stuck on the ISS
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
"It isn't a rescue mission, it's a regular crew rotation mission with modifications..." Rescue definition: an act of saving or being saved from danger or distress . The mission to take astronauts off the space station clearly fits this definition - an extended, unplanned and indefinite stay in space has to be distressing at the least. Has the HN standard become that you can argue the most ridiculous thing if you make…
This launch was normal and expected crew rotation, they just kicked a few people off the mission so that there would be open seats on the way back.
> normal and expected crew rotation, they just kicked a few people off the mission so that there would be open seats
That’s neither normal nor expected!
Go back to the age of exploration. A crew’s ship strands them on an island. Another ship was due to come anyway in 6 weeks, and the crew have enough food to last them that interval. They use witches to tell the coming crew of their problems, and that ship agrees to lighten its load to make room for the stranded.
This is a rescue! It’s an easy rescue. But so was, like, pulling my puppy out of the neighbor’s pool when it went under the cover.
Re: SpaceX launches mission for 2 NASA astronauts who are stuck on the ISS
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you're on an island, the ferry breaks down and the next one is in three months, yeah it's a rescue mission. I don't know why people want to quibble about usage that seems clear.
I'd just call it the next ferry. If there was an extra boat sent before the next ferry was due, that could be a rescue mission (or just a replacement boat).
> just call it the next ferry
The next ferry doesn’t have room. It has to change its plans to accommodate you.
Re: SpaceX launches mission for 2 NASA astronauts who are stuck on the ISS
#70Man the reporting on this ordeal has been so awful and so representative of how media misleads the public into thinking things are worse than they actually are. It isn't a rescue mission, it's a regular crew rotation mission with modifications to account for the extra crew left on the station, and those crew are 'stuck' only in the sense that they're expected to stay there as part of their duties and it would be unne…
I see this claim a lot and I honestly don't understand why people refuse to see this for the disaster it is (for Boeing). An 8 day mission turned into a months-long mission unexepctedly and SpaceX ultimately had to bump 2 trained astronauts to return them to Earth. That's the very definition of a rescue and just a wildly massive PR disaster to boot. Beyond this, we still have no idea of what it will take to return St…
It was a disaster for Boeing, it was not a disaster for the astronauts. Extending stays at the station is not unheard of for test flights, the Crew Dragon test flight also involved the crew staying longer than initially intended, as NASA decided that it'd be a more effective use of resources to do so.
SpaceX did not have to bump 2 trained astronauts to return them to Earth. That was simply the cheapest, least disruptive way to bring them back. There has always been the option of sending a dedicated Dragon for them, but that would require NASA to pay for an entire additional Dragon mission just to bring two people back who are in no urgent need of bringing back.
You go to an island for your employer, and the ferry breaks down once you get there. While your employer can send another ferry soon to bring you back, they ask if you'd be okay staying for a rotation because that'd be more convenient for them. They also arrange a means for you to leave in case of an emergency. You're enjoying the island, so you agree. The replacement ferry is not a rescue.
Starliner made the uncrewed return just fine, which means that on NASA's side, the return to flight should not be too complicated (well, besides showing that the doghouse deformation issues have been resolved) and should not involve a redo of this flight. What remains to be seen is what position Boeing takes on it, as they have been very quiet over if they're going to continue in Commercial Crew.