Space and Science BS Thread

I heard it was 3 and at least one aborted. If the abort wasn’t planned I’m not sure they’d ramp up until they knew why.

 

Reboost?! They want to de-orbit by 2030!

I personally thought I saw 3, and even went back and watched it at .25 speed and saw 3. But if SpaceX says 4, then I say it was probably more than likely 4.

 

Reboost is a common need, especially when having to dodge orbital debris. When Russia pulls out our ability in that regard goes with them. We should have other options available by then but none are ready now.
I looked as well and only saw 3 but the glimpses were so brief and the starts staggered so I couldn’t be sure. 4 it is then.

 

I thought Boeing had 6 launches? But the fixed price argument is kind of a joke where one party gets quite the boost over the other.

 

Boeing Starliner? Or Boeing Orion? Or a total of both?

 

I think the deal is they can have 6 if they can do 6 but they’ve already been paid for the first 2. Once certified they can sign contracts for more but Spacex is gobbling up many of the remaining opportunities. Nasa wants both for several reasons not the least being the reboost issue but yeah, they’ve gotten way more for their money from Spacex than from Boeing. But at least Spacex gets another contract and that’s money Boeing won’t ever see. If it doesn’t go well in February NASA will likely start scrambling for other options and may even sooner, maybe including ESA since they want to build their own version of CD. NASA wants other partners besides Spacex even if it costs more.

 

Starliner. Orion isn’t gonna get in the mix for servicing the ISS. Or at least that’s what’s being said now.

 

Starliner. Boeing and Spacex were each awarded contracts to build crewed capsules for Leo with up front money for the first few missions included in the contract. Since then Spacex has signed a few more contracts capturing batches of crewed missions with each.

 

I think SpaceX is the only game in town so to say they’re gobbling up flights is a bit unfair. They’re the only provider with excess capacity so much so that Beoing (Starliner) is considering contracting for F9 launches once (and if) Starliner gets flying due to lack of delivery vehicles.

 

Orion is Lockheed Martin.

 

I think I’m gonna go. Where is a good spot to watch. I’ve been down for a shuttle launch. I’m generally familiar with the area. Is it possible to cross the Causeway bridge on launch day?

 

Oh, I forgot about that.

 

@Hunterdc1 can answer this. He works there.

 

Boeing built the core stage of SLS and the Starliner capsule but as per the usual NASA project, way too many cooks.

 

They’re not turning up their noses at them either. “Gobbling” might have too strong a connotation but in effect that’s what they’re doing. Can’t blame them either, opportunities to be the sole provider of a service don’t grow on trees and generally don’t last long. Peter Beck is changing his tune and talking about a crewed Neutron to provide another Leo option. Boeing’s problems are Boeing’s doing, had they leveraged their experience in engineering instead of accounting they would be better situated.

 

I may come off as a SpaceX cultist with this comment (instead of just a regular fanboi), but I am glad SpaceX is getting so much investment into them. It just means more money headed their way for more rocket development.

 

I totally agree. I’d mentioned earlier that I thought they needed to continue to get more contracts since Starlink won’t pay the bills. Crew and cargo dragons are stable and reliable at this point but it’s still going to take a lot more to get all the iterations of Starship into space.

 

But starlink is far from their only source of revenue. There is the recent addition of cellular to v2 starlink sats. There is sat launches in general, starship will be one of the cheapest options out there. There is science, manufacturing, and tourism. These are great considering starship's interior is nearly equal to the iss's and the cost to launch is so low comparatively. And there's of course the international travel.

 

Look at my posts back for a couple of pages- Ben Cooper tweet - he’s a long time photographer there and he’s posted a viewing guide with the best places.

 

I guess the lightning protection system works:
https://twitter.com/thesheetztweetz/status/1565444373839577092?s=21&t=bXwFlNXwpBApK9V9WKAK8w