Space and Science BS Thread

Good questions. Seems like they spitball and do the best they can…

Lotsa lead times needed to get everything ready and lined up.

 

How do you plan on showing up to work tomorrow when you haven't slept tonight?

 

Given that it's a well-established Boeing spacecraft bus, I'd expect them to normally have a pretty good idea of how long it takes to get one integrated and ready for launch, so it wouldn't be too crazy to schedule a launch around that.

 

How to observe the SpX stage crashing on the moon:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiec...-rocket-on-its-way-to-smashing-into-the-moon/

 

https://twitter.com/nasagroundsys/status/1489626468418306049?s=21

 

Some random pics this morning:

https://twitter.com/totalspace360/status/1489959213942165504?s=21

https://twitter.com/engineers_feed/status/1489931667284373508?s=21

 

A liquid O2 issue?

 

Haha wrong...not Columbia. Data probe & side say Enterprise.

 

Lack of skilled workers (for real)

https://spacenews.com/lack-of-critical-skilled-workers-delays-first-viasat-3-launch-to-late-summer/

@2008taco ?
@Hunterdc1 ? Seems like a skilled workers market….

 

Good eye. I always thought Enterprise had the engine cap when it was flying

 

Was removed for the last drop test. Kind of surprising "World of Engineering" didn't catch it. Pretty sure Columbia (or any space rated orbiter) did *not do a drop test.

Fun side fact: on one of the orbiter/orbiter transporter flight tests (pre drop tests) they went into a dive and the orbiter's lift was used to "carry" the 747.

 

https://twitter.com/rookisaacman/status/1490121905038413834?s=21

 

Man, Starship looks so tiny by itself on the stool

 

Skilled workers market for sure. These companies are trying to pay technicians peanuts to process orbit bound vehicles. And then are surprised when they can't find good help or things have to be done multiple times to get it right.

When your cashier at McDonald's is making $15 an hour, your technicians handling flight hardware should make more than $20/hr. In shuttle days when minimum wage was $4.10, technicians made 20-30$/ hour...great money for a blue collar guy. There is still good money to be made, just not everywhere.

 

And I thought Enterprise was the only one they used for drop testing.

 

It was.

 

From inside the cockpit:
https://twitter.com/slickf16/status/1490100015972429824?s=21

 

The thing is, there has always been a shortage of skilled workers. It's why I chose to be a machinist, long before the apocalypse. When there is a shortage of skilled people pay and benefits tend to be higher. That said, you have to be willing to do the work to find it. For every machine shop that's offering 25/hr there are another 10 offering 17-19 for pretty much the same job. There are many that will promise you the moon, the stars, and their varsity jacket. They'll claim to start low and give a good raise at 90 days, which usually means 180+. Room to grow, room to learn new skills, etc etc. Once you have those skills though, now YOU have the power in the relationship. Most machine shop owners will give you a raise if you ask, because they know the machine shop down the road is going to offer more to try to steal you. Sometimes they wont though, they'll give you an excuse and try to push it off for months. In those scenarios, you have to be willing to walk away, and a lot of people are unwilling to put in that work. I've changed jobs 6 times in the last 5 years. I do 20-30 interviews each time, and get a 95% offer rate. I make $2-3/hr more each time i change. In the end though the best thing I've acquired is a skill that is in demand. Barring something major, i should never be out of work, and never be scraping by with the bare minimum wage.

That said, things have been bad. The wait times on some metals is crazy, especially considering you used to be able to get most same day up to 2 tops. I know some shops waiting for weeks now. Wether that's because they're working at mcdonalds or covid restrictions, who's to say. The end result is shortages, and the solution to that is to raise wages to attract what few skilled laborers there are. The end result of that is usually raising costs aka inflation, but it usually balances out in the end.

 

Thanks for the inside looks @2008taco and @Hunterdc1

Unrelated, this is pretty cool:
https://twitter.com/marcushouse/status/1490175612417294338?s=21

 

Four years ago and only 3 flights…. Right, only 3?

https://twitter.com/engineers_feed/status/1490194429877145600?s=21

https://twitter.com/spacex360/status/1490256272205230084?s=21