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Crew-9 Returns to Earth

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Re: Crew-9 Returns to Earth

#301
post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firstly, I understand people will disagree with me on this and that's fine – if you disagree please just explain why. Based on what I've read on this, I can see why Trump and Elon MIGHT feel like the return flight was held back for political reasons... But I'm not really able to take either side of this argument as it stands, so I'll give my thoughts for why that is in the hope someone might be able to convince me on…

The normal process is that you always have at least one US and one Russian Vehicle docked to the ISS. In emergencies, each crewmember uses their spacecraft to return to earth. The normal rotation is that an additional spacecraft arrives at the ISS (so there are now 3 vehicles docked in total) and then the older spacecraft leaves with its crew. So before the single dragon leaves, a new dragon would arrive. I think the…

From what you are saying, it was not a rescue mission then? But Trump administration is trying to frame as it were. Is that it?

Re: Crew-9 Returns to Earth

#302
post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firstly, I understand people will disagree with me on this and that's fine – if you disagree please just explain why. Based on what I've read on this, I can see why Trump and Elon MIGHT feel like the return flight was held back for political reasons... But I'm not really able to take either side of this argument as it stands, so I'll give my thoughts for why that is in the hope someone might be able to convince me on…

I think it’s a hugely complex problem but it basically boils down to a few key things. - could ISS support docking an additional crew dragon for the time it would take to return the starliner crew without adversely disrupting other scheduled spacecraft flow? - could spacex have delivered an additional crew dragon to the ISS and departed before any other without downstream impact to future crew dragon missions? - was…

I think the only question that might be a no is 'was someone willing to pay for all of this.' But I think even that being a 'no' is suggestive of a political motivation, given that the alternative (that "we" ended up going with) was borderline ridiculous in the chaos that it caused. We ended up, for the first time ever, with a Russian cosmonaut was in control of an American spacecraft, and a rookie cosmonaut with only basic training on the Dragon at that.

It also forced NASA to completely change their safety standards. In particular NASA requires there be a 'lifeboat' on on the ISS for all crew in case of an emergency, but because of the Boeing crew (and the lack of a corresponding vessel), NASA approved a new 'configuration' of the Dragon where up to 3 people could strap themselves to the floor of it, where cargo would normally go, in case of the need of a mass escape from the ISS. [2]

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_Crew-9

[2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Crew_Flight_Test#Uncrew...

Re: Crew-9 Returns to Earth

#303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Besides making any of this possible?

While running his other two companies (Tesla, X), being in charge of DOGE, and making political statements on stages everywhere, AND taking care of his 14 children ... I don't think he was actually involved in this. Or maybe he was there in the mission control room, physically, just for kicks, and annoying the hell out of the engineers. Now that I find somewhat likely.

Yeah must be all of his companies have good employees and all his competitors companies have terrible employees.

Nothing to do with the CEO or the company culture. Sort of like Apple, Jobs was probably just annoying his engineers all the time and contributed nothing.

/s

Re: Crew-9 Returns to Earth

#304
post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's not forget that right now it seems that only SpaceX is putting in the "monumental efforts" to advance the "pioneeribg industry", being responsible for the vast majority of launches, the only safe crewed spacecraft, as well as pushing the frontier of space travel with ambitious new projects such as Starship.

Does that justify blatant lies?

I'm worried spacex will end up a bit like Tesla, largely abandoned for Musk to go off on some political weirdness.

Re: Crew-9 Returns to Earth

#305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can’t believe anyone took these claims seriously for even a moment. Musk was a bullshitter even at his best, and he has fallen far from that peak in the past couple of years. Just go to his Twitter feed and see an unending stream of absolute nonsense. Trump shows no indication that he even understands the concept of truth. And yet somehow people manage to say, “NASA says X, Musk and Trump say Y, who knows who’s rig…

In a situation where everyone has an incentive to lie, there's no reason to believe anyone. Musk and Trump have a history of exaggarating, to say it lightly, but NASA, like most of the government entities, hasn't been transparent with their internal processes either. I see no reason to trust either of them.

Yes. Kind of.

Imagine you have two friends. Both are known to be the kind of people who eat off of other people’s plates.

You go to dinner with both of them. And while you’re distracted, some food fries disappear from your plate.

At this point, it’s similar. Since both friends steal food, it could be either.

Except, you’ve actually been to dinner many times with both. And you actually know a little more. You know that friend A always takes some of your fries. And friend B has always preferred snatching the croutons from your salad. But right now, you’ve got some missing fries. So… most likely the fry snatcher is at it again.

Coming back to the real world of liars. We’ve observed that trump and and musk stretch the truth to gain the trust/confidence/adoration of others. Braggart style behavior. NASA is less than transparent when it comes to motives behind various pork barrel things. But when it comes to “why’d something not work” they actually have a record of being mind numbing thorough and verbose.

So I personally have no problem pinning the less than desirable behavior around this on Trump and Musk.

Re: Crew-9 Returns to Earth

#306
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by “anything”? The chair I am sitting is not terribly political, for instance.

What's the design? What's it made of? Where were the materials sourced? Why? Where was it made? Why? Was it supposed to be marked as potentially containing carcinogenics?

What's the design? -Don't know, it's a simple chair.

What's it made of? -Wood and fiber.

Where were the materials sourced? -No idea

Why? -Why what?

Where was it made? -Factory in a town over

Why? -Is it the first "why" or a different one?

Was it supposed to be marked as potentially containing carcinogenics? -Sorry don't follow this one. It's chair to sit on.

I guess you were trying to show that this chair is about just as political as decades running a space race between two world powers? It's a good try but I think we'll need better questions to answer.

Re: Crew-9 Returns to Earth

#307
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by “anything”? The chair I am sitting is not terribly political, for instance.

I mean, from a certain perspective, it absolutely is. Where was it manufactured? What were the labor laws where it was manufactured? Was there any environmental impact in its construction? How was it shipped to you, and was there any environmental or safety impact of that transportation? If it broke the day after it arrived, would the manufacturer owe you a replacement, or would you have to replace it at your own cos…

> I mean, from a certain perspective, it absolutely is.

It's "absolutely" in the same category as running a space race for decades between two superpowers, sacrificing enormous resources including human lives? Ok, then....

Re: Crew-9 Returns to Earth

#308

By any reasonable definition, these astronauts were stranded. If people can be stranded in an airport due to a plane being grounded, then they can be stranded on a space station for the same reason. I mean, they're in orbit , it's not like they could simply walk home. The mental gymnastics on display in this thread reminds me of the Narcissists Prayer. The astronauts weren't stranded in space for 9 months. And if the…

They have had a completely normal emergency evacuation plan since 9/24/24, if they were ever "stranded" it was before that when they would have had to use the Crew-8 Dragon in an abnormal configuration.

Is any astronaut who stays longer than planned "stranded"? Did Elon strand Crew-9 when SpaceX missed their deadline on building the Crew-10 Dragon?

Or is it just if you can't go home whenever you want? Are Crew-10 stranded right now?!?! Elon please help!!!!!

Re: Crew-9 Returns to Earth

#309
post #243
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They may have fun up there. But it would be also bad for their careers to not project anything but a "prepared and committed" vibe. This is all clearly over politicized

You mean like claiming it was a rescue? Rescues have more of an urgency vibe, don’t you think? Remember the kids stuck in the cave? That was a rescue.

yes exactly like claiming it was a rescue.

this whole thing is so politicised that just pointing out that even the astronauts involved have their own motivation for doing or saying what they do is interpreted as if I'm defending Musk.

I'm disgusted by Musk, during the infamous cave rescue comments and by all he's doing and saying now.

That said, astronauts are professionals that have put their lives at stake. They may have died while going up or died while coming back. They know exactly what they signed up for and if the mission has had technical issue and the mission command has deemed necessary for them to stay there they clearly must obey or they won't be seen as fit for the next mission.

Why is our public discourse so degraded that just pointing that out automatically means you're endorsing somebody?

Trump and Musk and their disgusting braggadocio have truly poisoned society in such a way that normal people immediately jump on the defensive. But by reacting like that you all playing into their hand.

Re: Crew-9 Returns to Earth

#310
post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> To be a little snarky here - so Senior NASA officials: honest, Musk: liar? We know for a fact that Musk a serial liar with a very tenuous grasp of truth. Can you say the same about the Senior NASA official? Also, the burden of proof lies on Musk, not on NASA which literally has contingencies upon contingencies for such situations.

NASA in practice isn't what most people think it is. A lot of stuff they're doing is just a mixture of a terrible idea (SLS) and will never go anywhere (Artemis), amongst others. People in-the-know in space are fully aware of this, including NASA officials. But they keep cheerleading it all and pretending that everything will just be awesome. The reason is that NASA is basically forced to be political (at least their…

And how does that relate to this particular issue? Had they been playing political games for the sake of funding, they would've immediately jumped as soon as Musk and Trump barked, right?

Instead they carefully and patiently explained all the issues, and what is going on.

And yet, still, "ah yes, it's NASA that is lying for political clout, not the very public very shameless very serial liars"

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