The REAL Reason the Astronauts Were Stranded - Boeing vs NASA

(Please Subscribe!) Dan @TakingOffDan goes into a deep dive on the failures of Boeing Starliner and the background of the politics and programs to help understand the issues facing NASA.

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00:00 Introduction
01:06 Government Commercial Partnership Example
02:24 NASA Awarded Contracts 2014
03:14 The Mission and the Spacecraft
04:37 Meet Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams
05:33 Starliner's RCS Thrusters and Helium Leaks Explained
07:05 Results of the White Sands Testing of the Thruster Problem
08:32 Available Options for NASA and Boeing on August 24, 2024
09:51 SpaceX Crew-9 Becomes the Solution
11:11 Is there Enough Food and Water for Butch and Suni?
12:18 The Issue of Spacesuit Compatibility
12:52 NASA Lifeboat Policy
13:30 Boeing's Number Crunching Reason for Returning the Astronauts on Starliner
16:09 All About Boeing and the New CEO Kelly Ortberg
17:38 Why Does NASA Keep Supporting Boeing?
19:56 Final Words

[NH]

Could all come down to a spelling error. NASA wanted a "Crewed Launch Vehicle." Boeing delivered a "Crude Launch Vehicle." So close.

[mrjohnthedestroyer]

For those saying the Astronauts aren't stranded. "Left without the means to move from somewhere. Left without choice." Like stranded on an island but later rescued. Their means of leaving is gone & must be rescued by another means. Yeah, they ARE stranded

[Humanity_Hope_]

Boeing's best Engineers are Long Gone
The Company has lost its know-how

[kenwhitfield]

Starliner should not have launched with a crew in the first place until after the nature of the helium leaks was better understood. Unfortunately, it seems the launch was allowed for political reasons rather than technical expediency.

[letsreasonthisout]

Bill Nelson reminds me of a decrepit US president who can't keep his lies straight.

[Lemurion]

What concerns me is that before June 8, it was a "certification flight, " but since they arrived on the station it has been a "test flight." The two terms have very different connotations, and I find the change from one to the other to be quite illuminating as it basically absolves Boeing of responsibility. A certification flight is a demonstration that something works properly, a test flight is an investigation into whether it will work properly, and thus has much lower expectations attached.

[Chainsaw-ASMR]

You forgot to mention that Boeing was paid $4.6 billion vs. SpaceX $2.4 billion, which is nearly twice as much for the same service and Boeing’s spacecraft still doesn’t meet the specifications.

I’m not a fan of kicking someone when they’re down, but Boeing has earned it.

Edit: He actually did mention it, I just missed it.

[Lazarov_Tweevles]

Butch & Sunny originally complained about the helium leak... but ... Boeing didn't like their tone.

[theprofessor]

Understand you have Boeing stock, but Jesus dude. If SpaceX failed so crappily as Boeing did and continues to do, they would be out of business. The fact you’re whipping out the engineering of Starliner to try to make it seem better makes it even worse.

[inverted_attitude]

Apollo was a government and private collaboration, however, NASA maintained the over all command while private involvement was more limited. Hence the John Glenn quote, “How does it feel to sit on top of two million parts built by the lowest bidder?”

[revivalcycle]

You sound like NASA hired you for this.

[okoboji]

Nothing like not foreseeing the space suit issue... Apollo 13 comes to mind, square pegs and round holes. When it comes to human space flight, the human interface MUST be compatible. How did we miss this basic human survival element?

[Mguitar]

Boeing lost its way when bean counters took control of an Engineering Company.

[bigdougscommentary]

What until your miracle highway collapses and the company you’re praising rebrands itself to escape responsibility.

[darkguardian]

Bill Nelson needs to retire.
I didn't like him when he used his political pull to "inspect" on orbit operations with STS-61-C Columbia.
Who is he trying to fool with this condescending "space is hard" and dangerous.
It's under his leadership and bias against Musk and SpaceX that America is in this mismanaged mess.
He also chose favorite buddy Boeing over Dream Chaser.
It reminds me of a catch phrase in the Super Chicken cartoon when his sidekick complained.
"You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred."
This also comes down to the premature retirement of the space shuttle before commerical spacecraft were even designed.

[deansiracusa]

Why wasn’t Boeing involved in the press conference? That’s even worse optics.

[dtsh]

Someone please remind Boeing those two are astronauts, not whistleblowers 🤣

[TerryB]

I wonder how glowing Bill Nelson's remarks regarding Boeing would have been if he was stuck on the ISS because of Boeing rather than experiencing that uneventful trip on the space shuttle he took decades ago.

[sirgibsonable]

If Boeing wants to study the cargo section, drop it off in LEO and ask SpaceX to pick it up on IFT-5! Et voilà! Problem solved! 😂

[sseeplane]

Adm. Rickover said quality is what you inspect not what you expect. Seems to me if you can't hold up to rigorous scrutiny in a highly technical/high consequence field you need to find another career path.