Bad News for Boeing Starliner

[OFSO]

I read that the capsule can only be undocked from the ISS manually by someone inside it, with the port locked shut. I suppose they might wait long enough for the doors to fall off, which I understand is a failing of Boeing-built devices. At least any alien civilizations watching this farce from afar will realise we are no threat to them.

[llondel]

That sounds like a fundamental screw-up in design.

[OFSO]

It appears that the marooned astronauts will be flown back aboard Mr Musk's excellent spaceship next February, while NASA will fly Boeing's Starliner back unmanned in September this year. Should this prove a success Boeing will extend the philosophy to their GA Fleet, and it is to be expected that 737s and Dreamliners will also fly without crew and passengers in the future, thus aiming for a zero rate of incidents..

[PHXPhlyer]

NASA finally gives Boeing Starliner capsule a return date. But it will fly home without its crew

https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/29/science/ ... index.html

After 12 weeks in space, Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is finally set to return home from the International Space Station on September 6 — albeit without its two-person crew.

The troubled spacecraft will undock from the orbiting laboratory around 6 p.m. ET, and it will spend about six hours maneuvering closer to home before landing around midnight in New Mexico’s White Sands Space Harbor.

The astronauts who rode aboard Starliner to the space station on June 5, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, will remain on board the orbiting laboratory.

NASA announced on August 24 that experts were wary of gas leaks and issues with the Starliner capsule’s propulsion system, leading the agency to determine the spacecraft is not safe enough to finish its mission with crew on board.

“The uncrewed Starliner spacecraft will perform a fully autonomous return with flight controllers at Starliner Mission Control in Houston and at Boeing Mission Control Center in Florida,” according to a NASA update posted Thursday. “Teams on the ground are able to remotely command the spacecraft if needed through the necessary maneuvers for a safe undocking, re-entry, and parachute-assisted landing in the southwest United States.”

How the Starliner vehicle performs during its return trip could be crucial to the future of the overall Boeing program.

If the spacecraft experiences a mishap or NASA ultimately decides not to certify the vehicle for human spaceflight — a step that would set up the vehicle to make routine trips to orbit — it would mark yet another blow to Boeing’s already damaged reputation.

Repeating this test flight and implementing redesigns on Starliner could cost the company millions of dollars — on top of the roughly $1.5 billion the company has already recorded in losses on the Starliner program.

“All of us really wanted to complete the (Boeing Starliner) test flight with crew, and I think unanimously we’re disappointed not to be able to do that,” Ken Bowersox, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, said last week. But “you don’t want that disappointment to weigh unhealthily in your decision.”

Even if Starliner’s uncrewed return trip goes well, NASA will still face a crucial decision on whether to grant the spacecraft its human spaceflight certification even though it did not complete its mission as intended.

Throughout the weeks that engineers on the ground worked to understand the thruster issues and leaks plaguing the Starliner, Boeing maintained that it believed the vehicle would be safe to bring astronauts Williams and Wilmore home.

In a statement on August 24, Boeing said that it “continues to focus, first and foremost, on the safety of the crew and spacecraft. We are executing the mission as determined by NASA, and we are preparing the spacecraft for a safe and successful uncrewed return.”

Williams and Wilmore will now fly home aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule no earlier than February. The Crew Dragon spacecraft has been certified to fly astronaut missions for about four years and has made about a dozen crewed trips to orbit.

PP

[OFSO]

I read an article in the financial papers wondering whether Boeing has the "resources" i.e. money, to continue the project. The moon lander is also late and very over-budget.

[Karearea]

The Nasa astronaut Butch Wilmore has reported a “strange noise” coming from the stricken Boeing Starliner space capsule whose problems have left him and his colleague Suni Williams stuck in orbit for six months longer than they anticipated when they blasted off from earth in June.

Wilmore radioed mission control in Houston on Saturday to report a pulsing sound from a speaker inside the capsule. “I’ve got a question about Starliner,” Wilmore said. “There’s a strange noise coming through the speaker … I don’t know what’s making it.”

That set off a hunt for the cause of the noise in the spacecraft that has been dogged with helium leaks and propulsion issues and is now set to return on autopilot to a landing point in New Mexico, without Wilmore and Williams, on 6 September after Nasa decided it was too risky for astronauts to fly in.

The pair are now slated to return to Earth in a capsule built by Boeing’s competitor SpaceX, in February. In order to get Wilmore and Williams down, two Nasa astronauts set to join the international space station will be left behind from a mission later this month.

The source of the pulsing noise coming from Boeing spacecraft is believed to have come from a speaker feedback loop between the space station and Starliner.

But during the search for the audio culprit, Wilmore asked Houston flight controllers to see if they could listen but ultimately Wilmore, apparently floating in Starliner, had to put his microphone up to the speaker.

“Alright Butch, that one came through,” mission control radioed Wilmore. “It was kind of like a pulsing noise, almost like a sonar ping.” Wilmore radioed back: “I’ll let y’all scratch your heads and see if you can figure out what’s going on … Call us if you figure it out.”

The strange ping was captured and shared by a Michigan-based meteorologist named Rob Dale and was first reported by Ars Technica. According to the outlet, audio oddities in spacecraft are not unusual. In 2003, the Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei said he heard what sounded like an iron bucket being struck by a wooden hammer.

Guardian: Nasa astronaut reports ‘strange noise’ from Boeing Starliner spacecraft

"That Noise"

[OFSO]

Pictures on NASA Website of NASA and Boeing staff waiting to deal with the Starliner capsule post-landing. Lots of people. I would have thought plastic bags would have been the order of the day.

[OFSO]

Arrived back safely. Who'd have thought it. Well done.

[G~Man]

Good job Boeing, but second place---ya still lost.

[PHXPhlyer]

Pictures on NASA Website of NASA and Boeing staff waiting to deal with the Starliner capsule post-landing. Lots of people. I would have thought plastic bags would have been the order of the day.

The good news is that those waiting for the StarLiner's arrival back had advance information that it was arriving empty.
Imagine their surprise had they not known and found the capsule empty.

PP

[Boac]

Equally full............

[PHXPhlyer]

While there was no crew aboard the capsule was loaded with obsolete equipment from ISS as well as trash and probably some science experiments.
So not a total waste.
Also, since it landed intact, Boing will hopefully figure out how they screwed up the thrusters.

PP

[OFSO]

The thrusters that failed were, I believe, on the service unit which was jettisoned after leaving the ISS and which burned up on re-entry. But I'm sure they have a pretty good idea what failed and why.

[PHXPhlyer]

Gypped

NASA astronauts delayed in space for 9 months won’t get overtime pay

https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/boein ... uts-return

The Brief
NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore returned after a 9-month stay in space, far longer than their planned one-week mission.
NASA astronauts earn a fixed salary of $100,287–$155,034 annually, with no extra pay for extended missions, weekends, or holidays.
Boeing’s Starliner thruster failures forced them to remain aboard the ISS for 286 days, conducting research and station maintenance.
LOS ANGELES - NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have finally returned to Earth after an unexpected nine-month stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Their Boeing Starliner mission, meant to last just over a week, was extended to 286 days due to thruster failures that left them unable to safely return.

Despite the risk and uncertainty, the astronauts were paid no extra wages for their extended mission—no overtime, no hazard pay, and no weekend or holiday compensation. NASA confirmed that astronauts receive fixed government salaries, with only a small daily stipend for incidentals while in space.

Why were the astronauts stuck for 9 months?
The backstory:
Williams and Wilmore launched on June 5, 2024, aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule, Calypso, for a critical test flight. The mission was expected to last about a week, but Starliner’s thrusters failed during docking, making their return uncertain.

NASA and Boeing spent months troubleshooting the issue, ensuring Starliner could safely bring them back. In the meantime, Williams and Wilmore continued working aboard the ISS, assisting with scientific research, station maintenance, and technology demonstrations.

After multiple delays, they finally landed back on Earth on March 18, 2025—286 days after launch.

How much do NASA astronauts make?
By the numbers:
NASA astronauts are federal employees, falling under the General Schedule (GS) 12-13 pay scale.

Annual salary range (2024): $100,287–$155,034
Typical astronaut salary: $152,258
No extra pay for weekends, holidays, or hazardous missions
Daily incidentals stipend: About $4–$5 per day
Total additional pay for 9-month stay: $1,144–$1,430
NASA confirmed to multiple outlets that astronauts are paid a 40-hour-per-week salary, even though they work seven days a week in space.

"There’s no hazard pay, there’s no overtime, there’s no comp time," said former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino.


Astronauts return with splashdown off Gulf Coast
Suni Williams and Barry Wilmore of Crew-9 on the ISS and NASA and SpaceX returned to earth on Tuesday, splashing down off the Gulf coast of Florida.

A NASA spokesperson told PEOPLE that while astronauts receive an incidental stipend for each day in space, it’s a minimal amount due to federal travel regulations.

Did they feel stranded?
What they're saying:
Despite internet speculation that they were "stuck" or "abandoned", Williams and Wilmore disputed that narrative.

"That’s been the rhetoric. That’s been the narrative from day one: stranded, abandoned, stuck—and I get it. We both get it," Wilmore told CNN. "But that is, again, not what our human spaceflight program is about."

Williams and Wilmore are veteran astronauts who were fully prepared for mission delays. Long-duration spaceflights—even unplanned ones—are a known risk in human spaceflight.

Why do astronauts take the risk?
Big picture view:
For most people, $150,000 a year wouldn’t be enough to risk being stranded in space. Other high-paying careers, like finance, law, or tech, offer higher salaries with far less risk.

Investment bankers in New York earn an average of $111,000—without the threat of being stuck in orbit.
Consultants can make $137,000 while advising clients from comfortable office spaces.
Sales professionals in major cities often earn over $200,000 with no inherent danger.
But astronauts aren’t driven by money.

A 2019 Lego study found that being an astronaut is still a top career aspiration for U.S. and U.K. children, ranking among the top five dream jobs.

For Williams and Wilmore, their nine-month stay in space was about more than money. They spent their time inspecting hardware, aiding scientific research, testing technology, and maintaining the ISS—essential work for the future of human spaceflight.

As NASA’s space operations chief Ken Bowersox said:

"Every astronaut that launches into space, we teach them: don’t think about when you’re coming home. Think about how well your mission’s going—and if you’re lucky, you might get to stay longer."

PP

[k3k3]

It's a pity they don't get mileage allowance.