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NASA Needs Backup Plan To Maintain U.S. Presence At Space Station, Watchdog Says
A government watchdog agency wants NASA to come up with a contingency plan for getting American astronauts to the International Space Station.
The recommendation is one of the major takeaways in a 47-page report from the Government Accountability Office on what is known as the Commercial Crew Program.
[...] Under the Commercial Crew Program, NASA chose SpaceX and Boeing to develop the next generation of crew capsules to take the place of the shuttle. The two companies are competing to see which one will be the first private company to launch American astronauts into space.
The GAO's report acknowledges that SpaceX and Boeing have made "progress developing their crew transportation systems," but that "both contractors have further delayed the certification milestone to early 2019." The companies had initially been required to prove to NASA that their spacecraft would meet the agency's requirements for human space flight by 2017.
Also at Space News and Ars Technica.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday July 13 2018, @05:09AM (5 children)
No serious quarrel with those Russians for now or else no new Americans into space for a while.
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Friday July 13 2018, @08:06AM (4 children)
Global politics is like an onion.
On the outer-most layer, you have disagreements, trade wars, tariffs, tit-for-tat stupidity
Several layers underneath, you have the agreements, so oil flows, astronauts fly, planes don't get shot down over intmational air space..
Sometimes, the deepest layers are revealed, and some of this stuff stops working, but mostly, the rich want to stay rich, so the big stuff* keeps moving.
*money
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Friday July 13 2018, @09:36AM (3 children)
> Global politics is like an onion.
This arrangement of global politics is mostly a late 20th century invention (i.e. post-WWII or even cold war). So while what you write may be true now, it may not be true in another 50 years time. Or indeed, another 5 years time. Relative world stability/peace/prosperity is, again, a late 20th century invention, which may not last long.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 13 2018, @01:21PM (2 children)
remember the days when wars could be settled or fended off by the right marriage?
those were the days...
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday July 13 2018, @04:30PM
Or internal problems could be fended off by the right war ?
Those were/are/will be the days...
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Friday July 13 2018, @04:52PM
Didn't really work in game of thrones
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday July 13 2018, @05:27AM (2 children)
Don't you know that you can make the deadline by working 18-hour days, reducing the overhead of testing, then just apologize and incrementally fix the bugs when the customer starts bitching about sudden crashes in basic features?
Agile, Fuck Yeah!
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday July 13 2018, @05:39AM
You say that like it's a bad thing.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 13 2018, @05:45AM
elon musk could use the executive talent that you display.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 13 2018, @12:24PM
Certification for flight requires a risk analysis accepted by NASA.
This is a useful exercise for making sure you don't do dumb stuff again that has already bitten you.
But the result should have error bands and an honest understanding that is is only a guess.
How do you do this for failure modes you haven't thought of?
(Like poor wiring practices and pure O2 at elevated pressure.)
How do you do this for failure modes the command chain doesn't think are serious?
(Like cold orings or falling ice.)
We joke about the best way to air travel is to ship yourself FexEd.
What would a risk analysis look like for wrapping a crew member in space rated bubble wrap and duct tape and shipping him in a Dragon cargo flight?
The point is that the risk analysis needs to be balanced with common sense.