Boeing's New Spacecraft Gets Lost On Way To Space Station

Boeing's Starliner has been designed and built for NASA's Commercial Crew Program, intended to provide 'taxi' services for astronauts to the International Space Station. Today was the first full flight test, launching on board an Atlas V from Cape Canaveral the initial flight was flawless. However after separation the spacecraft got confused and maneuvered incorrectly, burning through fuel needed for the rendezvous. Ultimately the spacecraft was recovered by it was no longer in the correct orbit and at this time space station docking has been ruled out.

The vehicle will be tested on orbit to make sure all the systems operated correctly before the Starliner returns and lands at White Sands on Sunday.

John Kraus's launch photos can be found here:

[kennyg]

This mission went perfectly,





For SpaceX

[lyxar]

"This is a testflight for docking with the space station" (fails to reach stable orbit) "Actually, this is a testflight to demonstrate emergency recovery. Everything is going according to plan." - Boing, shortly after being aquired by Kerbal Space Center.

[wireheadarts]

"Spacecraft in bad orientation?" No. The spacecraft had a bad attitude.

[joejoey]

Wow, Boeing is having a really bad year . That’s what happens when you let accountants design your products instead of engineers

[henryalvarez]

The anti stall system must have just kept pushing the nose up with the thrusters

[mikes]

Bright side:
It didn't fall back to Earth like their planes.

[Jcreek]

No problem, it's Boeing, just throw another billion dollars at them, they'll get it sorted...eventually.

[nochitlins]

“I much congratulates the Boeing on his Great Success!” — Borat

[MuraKun]

Nice MiB2 reference. It's a shame about the failure, Boeing having repeated trouble with guidance and automation in entirely different sections of the company can't be a good sign.

[sulfo]

Remember those t-shirts and hats saying “If it's not Boeing, I'm not going”...? That phrase could use some update.

[ClearAdventure]

*Phone rings* "This is Elon"

Boeing: "Hi, we have a question"

[spaulagain]

Scott Manley wearing a Robe while explaining rocket science...

Absolute GOLD 😂

[johnnussberger]

SpaceX's system looks so much simpler to this one and the booster comes back !

[ValentineC]

SMH, they probably forgot to convert between Metric and Imperial time

[souledgar]

This launch just made me really appreciate how advanced SpaceX has got with its launch coverage, having a presenter explain things at every stage of the way, cameras galore, a mission clock that’s visible at all times as well as maneuver timestamps. Yes it’s just PR, but it makes for a way better viewing.

[knightmarex]

love them or hate them its hard to deny SpaceX does a good job with their launch streams

[TheBendixSA]

So wait, they don't recover their boosters? Man that's last century...

[thestudentofficial]

Bruh at this point we may see Falcon Heavy carrying Orion to moon

[phodon]

Don't worry guys, the spacecraft is in a stable orbit!
EDIT: for those unaware, that's a joke based on the hosts just endlessly repeating "The spacecraft is in a stable orbit" for a solid 20 minutes during the broadcast while they figured out what went wrong.

[pauldzim]

"Starliner's trajectory is carefully mapped to put it on a precise path to catch up to the International Space Station about 24 hours after launch." Whoops, never mind.