The New York Post ran a story on Sunday, Aug. 25, saying that Boeing employees have felt humiliated since NASA decided to bring back Starliner unmanned and have the two astronauts brought back by SpaceX.
It's actually not a terribly surprising or even interesting story. The summary on Teslarati might save you some reading time, depending on how your browser handles advertising. The bottom line summary isn't surprising. These have been a tough couple of years, with the various aircraft problems - although 75% or more of those could be the result of aircraft maintenance crews or pilots not being up to snuff. Then there's the perennially bad Artemis/SLS program, and now Starliner. Because of all that, it's easy to feel picked on. Even worse, the fact that Butch and Suni are being rescued by the company that's constantly upstaging them makes it that much more humiliating.
“We have had so many embarrassments lately, we’re under a microscope. This just made it, like, 100 times worse,” said one worker, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
“We hate SpaceX,” he added. “We talk s–t about them all the time, and now they’re bailing us out.”
“It’s shameful. I’m embarrassed, I’m horrified,” the employee said.
With morale “in the toilet,” the worker claimed that many in Boeing are blaming NASA for the humiliation.
The employees interviewed felt Starliner could have safely returned Butch and Suni without having them extend their stay on the ISS until February (at the earliest). They seem to not register that their representative was on the NASA investigation board that made the recommendation, and Bill Nelson is determined to improve NASA's safety mindset.
“Spaceflight is risky, even at its safest and most routine. A test flight, by nature, is neither safe, nor routine. The decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard the International Space Station and bring Boeing’s Starliner home uncrewed is the result of our commitment to safety: our core value and our North Star,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in the post. “I’m grateful to both the NASA and Boeing teams for all their incredible and detailed work.”
and...
“Decisions like this are never easy, but I want to commend our NASA and Boeing teams for their thorough analysis, transparent discussions, and focus on safety during the Crew Flight Test,” Ken Bowersox, an Associate Administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate said. “We’ve learned a lot about the spacecraft during its journey to the station and its docked operations. We also will continue to gather more data about Starliner during the uncrewed return and improve the system for future flights to the space station.”
While the point of the whole thing is how bad the poow wittwe Boeing wowkews feew*, humiliation can be a positive motivator, too, if they choose to let it be so. Resolve to be better, to do something every day to be better.
While I can't argue with Elon's logic, it might be a case where not saying
anything might have been a slightly better response. If somebody you don't know tells you they're so down they want to kill themself, it's probably best not to agree with them on how badly they've screwed up.
Boeing still has the Starliner business. If the flight test capsule successfully and uneventfully returns to the ground, all those who argue it could have brought Butch and Suni home will feel vindicated and can do a victory dance. If that doesn't happen and the empty capsule is lost...
* The Internet has some pretty amazing things if you look. That's from a website the translates any text you give it into the way Elmer Fudd would say it.
A few days ago Malatrope commented that it's always the valves.
ReplyDeleteToday, Astrobotics reported a pressure control valve failing after launch is why Peregrine didn't make it to the moon.
Saw the story and almost went with it instead of this one.
DeleteOh come now, it was known for weeks, actually during launch or shortly thereafter, that Starliner failed its mission. It's just that neither Boeing or NASA wanted to publicly admit that.
ReplyDeleteHate is a strong word. If the Boeing worker actually said that, as opposed to media massaging the report, then he has given an insight of the Boeing culture. Low morale, therefore, is their just desserts.
Much like NASA knew the Columbia was borked hours after launching, but the powers-that-be never told the astronauts about the foam strike until late in the mission.
DeleteNASA knew, before hand, that the Starliner valves were having issues. Yet everyone chose to launch. And then 'Safety' became the mission after repeated failures of the system.
As to the employees, well, it's hard to be proud of a turd, no matter how complex and 'wonderful' said turd is.
It has gotten pretty busy in the private space industry. There have to be a dozen going concerns right now. And more on the way.
ReplyDeleteBoeing, like IBM in the 1980s, is either going to get with it or die. Their market cap is completely in their hands to make or break.
I see it as more like Kodak. Who was responsible for helping create some of the first digital cameras. And then didn't continue to progress and change.
DeleteStarliner has always been lodged in 'last century' ideas. No 'glass cockpit,' bazillion little toggles and buttons and gauges and readouts and such. A crowded cockpit full of things to bump. Even the Shuttle got a more modern cockpit. It's like looking at the unupdated cockpit of a Cessna 150 from 1957 and then looking at the modern 150 cockpit from 2017.
Kodak was in a bind that (I think) came down to the two halves of the company fighting. If the digital camera half won, the film business would be decimated and if the film business won, vice versa. That was the best case scenario. The outcome was inevitable - both halves lost.
DeleteTough times for Boeing, but safety should always be the top priority. Here's to hoping the Starliner can successfully return and restore some confidence.
ReplyDeleteI think right now the best that Boeing can hope for is that the shutdown won't hurt too bad. I really don't see them coming back from this. They had 2 unmanned launches, both ending with issues, and now the first crew launch with lots of issues. That's 3 launches of the capsule, all showing significant issues in major systems.
DeleteBoeing promised that any issues after the 2nd unmanned launch would be totally cleared up by the first manned launch. And they were wrong.
Boeing should have learned that all materials must be tested in the temperature and pressure environments they will experience before deciding to use it. Their material of choice, Teflon, failed in the Apollo 1 fire in 1967 when it was learned that the "nonflammable" material burned in pure oxygen at atmospheric pressure.
ReplyDeletePresident Kamala Harris should give the Boeing employees a participation trophy to help their feelings.
ReplyDeleteA couple of hours ago or so I read an article about Boeing wanting to offload the space division. The tone was as if a quick sale. ULA was identified as likely buyer. But Sierra Space has tendered a better offer. This would move Sierra into not having to hire out for launched. I suppose it bears watching what plans Sierra has for how to use Boeing rockets.
ReplyDeleteValuation is in the Two to Three Billion dollar range.