CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA decided Saturday it’s too risky to bring two astronauts back to Earth in Boeing’s troubled new capsule, and they’ll have to wait until next year for a ride home with SpaceX. What should have been a weeklong test flight for the pair will now last more than eight months.
The seasoned pilots have been stuck at the International Space Station since the beginning of June. A cascade of vexing thruster failures and helium leaks in the new capsule marred their trip to the space station, and they ended up in a holding pattern as engineers conducted tests and debated what to do about the trip back.
After almost three months, the decision finally came down from NASA’s highest ranks on Saturday. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will come back in a SpaceX spacecraft in February. Their empty Starliner capsule will undock in early September and attempt to return on autopilot and touch down in the New Mexico desert…
What you don’t realize is that Musk is fervently trying to figure out a way to save them, which is why it’s in February. And Musk had a terrible space record.
He’s just an incredibly good conman.
Sort of like Trump; and a good promoter to boot.
Of course. Trump has entranced 80 million people into forgetting his first term. When he says crap like “mass deportations” it almost isn’t worth reminding people that he promised the exact same thing in 2016.
Actually, Elon Musk has an obnoxiously fantastic space record. The stuff of science fiction, SpaceX is doing on a nearly weekly basis and nobody notices anymore.
Starlink Internet is the best on Earth right now.
Next week will be another private Dragon flight, with a planned civilian spacewalk.
In September they’re planning on another Starship test launch.
SpaceX’s launch schedule is packed until they can take them back. They’re perfectly safe up there on the ISS right now, and there is no need to rush such an operation.
It never ceases to amaze me how those who have never done ANYTHING with their lives, have nothing but the worst of criticisms for those who have done great things by their own hand. Envy is an obvious and horrid sin.
Do tell?
Elon Musk didn’t invent Tesla. He took it over, and then finessed carbon credits to make money, then illegally posted it as income on every single earnings report. And guess what? The SEC let it happen.
Musk pumps his stocks with Tesla by promising things in the future that never happen. The Roadster? Nope. The Semi? Nope. The Cybertruck is a hunk of junk.
What about SpaceX? Why NASA pays him to launch satellites into space, and yet that he has massive problems with those “reusable” rockets. His Mars ship keeps breaking up and plopping down into the ocean. And yet the taxpayers still pay him.
What about Neuralink? The chips implanted in human beings? Well the FDA granted him human trials despite the fact that every monkey who got a chip in his brain died.
Musk presides over the biggest con in human history, making Enron look like a minor accounting error on the ledger of a small business. That the US government hasn’t jailed him for fraud yet and pays him to keep Tesla and SpaceX going tells me he is controlled opposition.
Even more basic with Tesla – it’s an environmental disaster product. All electric based solutions are beginning with EV
And media industrial complex and government industrial complex bury the realities of toxic mining to no-disposal plan at end of product lifecycle
Yes you’re right, I overlooked that very important point. And they’re inefficient too. The Internal Combustion Engine replaced battery operated cars on the early 1900s for a reason.
Mike,
Elon is producing tangible things; things no one else even dreamed of trying, at least at his scale. He is going to rescue two astronauts because massive defense contractor Boeing ain’t going. He hostile took over Twitter from the IC goons and turned it into the solitary meaningful platform for industrial scale free speech. He is worth billions because the free market likes his stuff.
I’m going to have to disagree with your crackerjack analysis (😩) , once again.
Btw, what is an example of someone you really admire in politics (your favored candidate for president) or business (best example of large scale entrepreneur).
He’s producing tangible waste as the batteries can’t be recycled.
He’s producing pollution and increasing child labor.
Musk is a defense contractor too. How do you think the Ukrainian army communicates?
Twitter is still being monitored and used by the US government, still with shadow bans and all that. Nothing has changed.
Musk is an awful father.
And SpaceX will fail to rescue these two people.
I don’t admire anyone in politics. I don’t admire anyone in business. I’m an adult.
Mike,
Adults do more than criticize.
All I’ve ever seen you do is criticize.
Criticism is fine, in search of a positive solution.
Criticism for its own sake is symptomatic of an immature crank.
Ok. You don’t admire anybody in business or politics.
What’s your solution?
Are you a Marxist?
Do you care if Marxists win?
Are you a fatalist – nothing matters?
Is your solution there is no solution? Quit?
Who are the good guys? Nobody?
Meanwhile, on the front lines, where real work is being done, deeds accomplished, the Marxists – frightened by the threat posed by Musk, Durov, Trump … those they cannot control – these are being thrown in jail, assets seized, threatened with ruination. And that doesn’t even mention all the thousands, millions, of private citizens rotting in jail for thought or political crimes against the Marxist regimes.
For instance –
https://www.newsmax.com/world/globaltalk/musk-x-censorship/2024/08/25/id/1177819/
while you sip a cold one and call Elon Musk a con, a fraud.
I’m not sure this 😩 describes you. It seems more intentional than just plain despair.
The Starship is still under development. It crashing and breaking up at this point is a good thing, it means they have more to learn.
There’s actually no problems anymore with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets, they’ve been worked out. The only issue with them is that they’re not MORE reusable, their second stage is thrown away. The Starship is planed to be fully reusable.
People don’t realize that rockets can now land and be reused today, and they’re gonna blink, and in a few short years think that Instagram Influencers always posed in front of the Apollo landing sites for selfies. Kids born in the 2030s are not going to know a time when a lot of humans (more than the 10 or so government employees right now…) actually lived and worked in orbit, the Moon and Mars and throughout the Solar System.
Nasa reused rockets in the 90s..as usual Musk is taking credit for tech that already existed.
NASA reused rockets in the 80s.
Are you talking about the Space Shuttle; the program NASA scrapped because everybody died on Challenger when it disintegrated in 1986?
I don’t think the point is who came up “with the tech”. The point is who is moving forward with it now. SpaceX is what it is. Boeing ain’t going; SpaceX is. And all their pieces are coming back with precision, after launch, softly to their launching pads. Incredible.
Aqua,
1)The space shuttle was not a rocket. 2)The space shuttle program was ended during the Obama administration, some 23 years after the Challenger explosion.
Boeing is the kid who got an F on a test. Space X got a D+ on the test. Which is fine if you’re managing a lemonade stand. But when you can’t afford to screw up in space, it’s deadly.
Aqua, you need to look at videos by Thunderf00t on Youtube. He’s an actual scientist who has exposed how Musk is a con man and how his SpaceX fails, repeatedly.
But since you think the Challenger explosion ended the shuttle program, maybe I’m just going to stop trying to convince you. Of anything.
Mike,
You’re the one who claimed NASA was using reused rockets in the ‘90’s. Not me. I tried to figure out your point, since you didn’t explain. Which led me to assume you meant the Space Shuttle. Theyhad limited tech invested in reusing some of their parts, not all (“…the Orbiter and the Solid Rocket Boosters were designed to be reusable. It wasn’t deemed worthwhile to make the External Tank reusable”).
https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/01/05/why-doesnt-nasa-develop-reusable-rockets/
No other rocket company currently sees reusable part tech as worth the investment. SpaceX stands alone, presently.
As to “Thunderfoot” … hard pass.
How have they sold the fact that Musk is the chief engineer for Space X? Have they fabricated some elaborate, previously unknown backstory that would qualify him for such a thing? Or did he summon this vast, inexplicable expertise from the same dark spirits that illuminated Jack Parsons?
Like I said, I don’t follow any of this very closely… I kind of tuned out after seeing the ridiculous shots of the dummy driving a Tesla into the great beyond. But I am curious why nobody ever questions Elon’s engineering bona fides. It seems like it’s just assumed that going from tech billionaire to engineering rockets and satellites is a perfectly natural progression.
I’m trying to figure out, what is it about Elon Musk that drives people batty. His company is going to attempt the rescue of Boeing’s astronauts … so … we hate him.
Here’s the brief summary of Elon’s SpaceX company:
“ In 2002, SpaceX was born from Elon Musk’s deep passion for space exploration. He invested $100 million from his earnings from the PayPal sale, dreaming of transforming space travel. Musk, who is also known for Tesla, holds SpaceX especially close to his heart. As CEO and CTO, he plays a key role in steering its technological development, aiming to make life on Mars possible with affordable rocket travel. Two decades later, Musk still has a significant influence as the primary owner.
Ownership of SpaceX is shared among Musk, the company’s early team members, and various institutional investors who have funded it over the years.”
https://www.keeptrack.space/deep-dive/who-owns-spacex/
How is this bad?
Well I consider him creepy and likely a psychopath. Of course I love what he has done with X as our free speech is in grave danger. But I don’t trust him at all. If he shuts off X tomorrow, then what?
Here’s what I’m trying to figure out. Your original post was about Elon Musk’s SpaceX rescuing Boeing astronauts from space. Cool! Then all the comments are not about how cool that is but what a con and a criminal Elon is. Now your take – “Elon is creepy and likely a psychopath“.
I don’t get it. He started his rocket company from nothing, 20 years ago with his own seed money. Now he is saving massive defense contractor Boeing astronauts from death in outer space in one of his reusable rockets because nobody else on the planet can do what he does. And all he gets is the accolade psychopath? Why?
The OP simply pointed out that Boeing isn’t going, and so Musk will go. I don’t remember any accolades.
Mark,
You called him a psychopath.
I don’t get that or agree with it.
Elon Musk has said himself that he has Aspergers.
Asperger def:
“A developmental disorder affecting ability to effectively socialize and communicate.
Asperger syndrome is a condition on the autism spectrum, with generally higher functioning. People with this condition may be socially awkward and have an all-absorbing interest in specific topics.”
So his self-defined psychological condition helps him achieve certain things no one else can, and he also stands out as socially different.
I have one child with Asperger’s. Others with Autism. They have real strengths others cannot share. But they’d also stand out, socially, in a negative way – similar to Elon perhaps. Much training is required to get them to not just fit in but to participate in the real world of society with their peers.
In the context of what Elon has accomplished, specifically with SpaceX in 20 short years after he founded the company *from nothing* to passing up and rescuing Boeing in space, and also pending real evidence to support all the negative conclusions about him personally, I just think the insults are inappropriate.
Does this also apply when we criticize other super rich dudes like Soros, Gates, and Zuckerberg? Or just the guy who’s been sporting the Baphomet costume in his profile pic for going on two years?
(BTW, I’m sure assuming a bunch of people you’ve never met have led completely meaningless, inconsequential lives isn’t the least bit sinful.)
CJ,
It depends on what you are criticizing and to what purpose.
The post is about how massive defense contractor Boeing ain’t going, has failed in space, and has turned to Elon to get their astronauts home. Elon’s SpaceX is an American success story. Elon’s Twitter, a lifeline of free speech at a crucial moment in this info-war we are losing. Elon’s Tesla is producing the only EV’s anyone actually likes to buy and whose stock performance reflects such.
The comments however, as usual on this site, have nothing but bad things to say about Elon Musk: fraud, con, criminal, liar, horrible parent etc. Similar negative comments emanate for Trump.
And so I ask, what’s the positive solution Mike? CJ? The astronauts are being saved by Elon’s SpaceX – good thing 👍? Trump is running to save America from Marxists and the bureaucratic Blob – good 👍 ?
If not, what is the alternative?
That’s my point. Criticize all you want, but at some point … what’s the alternative to Trump? To Elon? The Marxists take over. The astronauts die in space. We lose our free speech Twitter platform. And your solution is …. ?
B****ing and m***ing from the peanut gallery.
While Trump and Elon are doing deeds, most of which I not only I agree with, I am thankful for, fortuitous.
And so, as I asked Mike, I get the premise – everything sucks. What is the solution in MikeWorld? Now, CJWorld? Or at least the theoretical pathway out of these messes y’all are criticizing so much – in this case the SpaceX “con”. Who else can do the deed of saving this crew? Why is this rescue the cause for insults of the rescuer?
That was for Charles’ hit and run comment, not for you. I’m not sure how you read enough into it to type as much as you did, since I didn’t actually comment specifically on Musk (besides the in-your-face Baphomet costume he’s been trolling his newfound Christian supporters with since Halloween of ’22) or this story. And I’m not going to, since that would require me actually paying attention to it.
I don’t listen to media narratives anymore, Aqua, because I don’t believe them anymore. I have this weird condition, maybe it’s a defect, where I stop listening to people or things that continuously lie to me. Does it mean everything they say will always be completely untrue? No. It means that life is too short to put in the necessary time and effort to determine when and if the professional compulsive liars might be telling the truth about the latest distraction du jour blasting from the omnipresent screens in our lives. I just ran out of give-a-damn for this stuff.
And I never said everything sucks. To the contrary, many things are quite beautiful. I try to spend more time with those things, and less time with mainstream news stories I can neither control nor verify.
CJ
Fair enough.
Good stuff.
👍
A bit off topic, but a good example of why Musk’s SpaceX is going, not Boeing, is this discussion of the genius of Musk’s Twitter takeover … most don’t realize what he was up against behind the curtains; most don’t realize what Twitter actually was, who controlled it; mist don’t realize what a turning point it was in the current info-war conflict when Musk leveraged his business empire on behalf of taking control of the greatest info-war weapon from the Intel Community and turning that info-cannon around, back against them. This was not easy. It was visionary.
This excerpt from the excellent and venerable blog, back in 2022, in explanation then of the stakes in play, far beyond what most suspected – The Conservative Treehouse blog:
– quote –
“Twitter is not making a decision to decline the generous offer by Elon Musk because of stewardship or fiduciary responsibility to shareholders. The financials of Twitter as a non-viable business model highlight the issue of money being irrelevant. Twitter does not and cannot make money. Growing Twitter only means growing an expense. Growing Twitter does not grow revenue enough to offset the increase in expense.
There is only one way for Twitter to exist as a viable entity, people are now starting to realize this.
What matters to the people behind Twitter, the people who are subsidizing the ability of Twitter to exist, is control over the global conversation.
Control of the conversation is priceless to the people who provide the backbone for Twitter.
Once people realize who is subsidizing Twitter, (the IC +) everything changes.
That’s the fight.”
– end quote –
The idea behind info war is to demoralize the enemy (us) and sow confusion, blindness, annger and disharmony. The loss of Twitter was a blow. Thanks Elon!
The whole article, for those who might not have heard of this before.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/04/15/twitter-responds-to-elon-musk-proposal-by-creating-poison-pill/
Musk is an American hero.
A lot of people (especially on here) have no clue how modern Space operations actually work. Which is not surprising, once you say, “Ok, let’s start with some basic Orbital Mechanics…” is usually the point when people lose attention.
A lot more people have no clue just how much things have changed in Space operations with SpaceX.
Right now SpaceX is working on “NASA’s schedule.” If it were up to them, they would’ve gotten them back weeks ago.
My sense is that when Trump wins in Nov 2024 Elon will, within the next four years and in partnership with Trump’s federal support, land a manned SpaceX on Mars, return all the moving pieces to Cape Canaveral, and the commercial and geo-political potential of space will be realized, once again, through American ingenuity and vision and daring.
And Mike will be right there to explain why none of it actually happened, and if it did happen why it doesn’t matter, and if it does matter, why it’s all just a fluke and a con.
Aqua, a manned mission to Mars is impossible for very simple logistical reasons. And I probably won’t be here anyway for you to admire what would be a useless achievement.
Wrong again Mike –
https://www.pcmag.com/news/elon-musk-is-still-working-on-a-game-plan-for-going-to-mars
“… Since then, the timeline has shifted slightly, with the new estimate being sometime before the end of the decade.“
(Etc)
It’s not only possible, a manned mission to Mars is the centerpiece of what he’s trying to accomplish with SpaceX.
“Make America Great Again’ recalls a nation brimming with vitality, with a can-do spirit, with hope and a belief in itself. It was an America that was beginning to confront its darker shadows, could acknowledge the injustice in its past and present, yet at the same time could celebrate its successes. It was a nation of broad prosperity, the world’s most vibrant middle class, and an idealistic belief (though not consistently applied) in freedom, justice, and democracy. It was a nation that led the world in innovation, productivity, and technology. And it was the healthiest country in the world,”
(RFK Jr on X)
https://x.com/RobertKennedyJr/status/1827707809141518835
There are those that do.
And then there are those that complain about those that do.
Those that do are remembered.
Those that complain, not so much.
– quote –
“I have decided today that the United States should proceed at once with the development of an entirely new type of space transportation system designed to help transform the space frontier of the 1970’s into familiar territory, easily accessible for human endeavor in the 1980’s and ’90’s. This system will center on a space vehicle that can shuttle repeatedly from Earth to orbit and back. It will revolutionize transportation into near space, by routinizing it.”
~ 5 January 1972
RICHARD M. NIXON
The story of routine space transportation, as envisioned by that statement of President Richard Nixon, from its conception in those 1970’s to today:
https://www.nasa.gov/reference/the-space-shuttle/#:~:text=The%20Space%20Shuttle%20was%20the,and%20lands%20like%20an%20airplane.
It seems the possibility of tech achievements to leave earth and explore space is there, like a modern day Tower Of Babel reaching up to the heavens. But like that primordial tower, God is “confusing the language” of men such that social-political discord might render such achievements impossible in the future.
Unless they have super secret technology to harness enough energy with or teleport, it is implausible to shuttle back and forth like that. And if such technology exists, why reveal it to the masses?
Maybe they can say that extraterrestrials gave us this technology, but such extraterrestrials are almost certainly a deception from hell.
We will see how long Twitter lasts.
The forces opposed to any semblance of free speech are aligned against him and not advertising.
Witness the now functioning fascism in the former United States of America.
Math don’t lie: if he can’t service his debt he used to buy the company, it will be dismantled.
Info only, to all the Elon Musk haters:
Ford loses $44,000 on every EV it sells.
Tesla makes $7,000 on every EV it sells.
Ford Net Worth is $44 Billion
Tesla Net Worth is $668 Billion.
Wow!
https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=polarisdawn
Hadn’t paid much attention to SpaceX until reading about this story. But this is really cool. Private enterprise released into space.