• The Warm Equations

    From Ted Nolan @21:1/5 to All on Sun Jun 23 16:37:14 2024
    Interesting to note the way margins of a real-life space venture are run:

    Two astronauts have been stuck at the ISS for an extra two weeks,
    so far, because their ride has flat tires, and it's not a crisis,
    and nobody has had to volunteer to step out the airlock.
    --
    columbiaclosings.com
    What's not in Columbia anymore..

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Paul S Person@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Mon Jun 24 08:42:04 2024
    On Sun, 23 Jun 2024 14:47:24 -0400, Cryptoengineer
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 6/23/2024 12:37 PM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
    Interesting to note the way margins of a real-life space venture are run:

    Two astronauts have been stuck at the ISS for an extra two weeks,
    so far, because their ride has flat tires, and it's not a crisis,
    and nobody has had to volunteer to step out the airlock.

    Boeing would really, really like to figure out what went wrong with
    the thrusters. Unfortunately, they options for checking them in orbit
    are very limited, and they're on the service module, which will be
    discard before entry, and burn up.

    Hopefully, a door won't pop out of this Boeing craft before they
    land.

    An interesting sidenote: This will be the first time the US has
    tried to land a manned capsule on *land*, as opposed to an ocean
    splashdown.

    I can remember when riding a vehicle built by Boeing was a sensible
    thing to do. Now it looks more like an act of desperation.

    If I were one of those astronauts, I think I would wait for ...
    someboy else ... to send up a replacement. A replacement that /works/.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From James Nicoll@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Mon Jun 24 17:01:33 2024
    In article <v5c7ij$113u3$[email protected]>,
    Lynn McGuire <[email protected]> wrote:
    On 6/23/2024 11:37 AM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
    Interesting to note the way margins of a real-life space venture are run:

    Two astronauts have been stuck at the ISS for an extra two weeks,
    so far, because their ride has flat tires, and it's not a crisis,
    and nobody has had to volunteer to step out the airlock.

    For those who do not know, this is a play on "The Cold Equations"
    awesome incredibly sad short story:
    https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-cold-equations/

    Alternatively, it's a terrible story about people with extremely
    shitty pre-flight safety procedures.

    https://reactormag.com/on-needless-cruelty-in-sf-tom-godwins-the-cold-equations/



    --
    My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
    My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
    My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
    My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From John Savard@21:1/5 to Nicoll on Mon Jun 24 13:12:39 2024
    On Mon, 24 Jun 2024 17:01:33 -0000 (UTC), [email protected] (James
    Nicoll) wrote:
    In article <v5c7ij$113u3$[email protected]>,
    Lynn McGuire <[email protected]> wrote:

    For those who do not know, this is a play on "The Cold Equations"
    awesome incredibly sad short story:
    https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-cold-equations/

    Alternatively, it's a terrible story about people with extremely
    shitty pre-flight safety procedures. >https://reactormag.com/on-needless-cruelty-in-sf-tom-godwins-the-cold-equations/

    The story "The Cold Equations" took a valid assumption about the early colonization of interstellar space - that resources would often be
    critically limited, with little margin for safety - and added to it
    some improbable factors in order to set up circumstances in which the
    plot could happen. This is a fault that is shared by a great many
    stories.

    John Savard

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Scott Dorsey@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Mon Jun 24 18:28:08 2024
    Paul S Person <[email protected]d> wrote:

    I can remember when riding a vehicle built by Boeing was a sensible
    thing to do. Now it looks more like an act of desperation.

    It's not just Boeing. There was a day when most of the people heading aerospace companies were engineers.

    The last Boeing CEO who was an actual engineer was Phil Condit, who left
    in 2003 after engineering the McDonnell-Douglas merger (which was great for
    the company but terrible for th industry). And he didn't even have a pilot's license.
    --scott

    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From BCFD 36@21:1/5 to John Savard on Mon Jun 24 13:05:36 2024
    On 6/24/24 12:18, John Savard wrote:
    [stuff deleted]


    The _equations_ are cold as ice, and will ever be. But _humans_ can be
    warm, and design adequate safety margins into their systems; which
    they usually do, when it is at all possible for them to afford doing
    so.

    John Savard

    The operative word above is "usually". Sometimes, there are those who
    decide that the margin for safety is just too high and too expensive and
    the margin is reduced. Sometimes reduced to zero. And it is rarely the engineers who do this.


    --
    ----------------

    Dave Scruggs
    Senior Software Engineer - Lockheed Martin, et. al (mostly Retired)
    Captain - Boulder Creek Fire (Retired)
    Board of Directors - Boulder Creek Fire Protection District (What was I thinking?)

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From John Savard@21:1/5 to tednolan on Mon Jun 24 13:18:47 2024
    On 23 Jun 2024 16:37:14 GMT, [email protected] (Ted Nolan
    <tednolan>) wrote:

    Interesting to note the way margins of a real-life space venture are run:

    Two astronauts have been stuck at the ISS for an extra two weeks,
    so far, because their ride has flat tires, and it's not a crisis,
    and nobody has had to volunteer to step out the airlock.

    As Rudyard Kipling wrote, in "The Secret of the Machines":

    But remember, please, the Law by which we live,
    We are not built to comprehend a lie,
    We can neither love nor pity nor forgive.
    If you make a slip in handling us you die!

    The _equations_ are cold as ice, and will ever be. But _humans_ can be
    warm, and design adequate safety margins into their systems; which
    they usually do, when it is at all possible for them to afford doing
    so.

    John Savard

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Chris Buckley@21:1/5 to James Nicoll on Mon Jun 24 20:45:33 2024
    On 2024-06-24, James Nicoll <[email protected]> wrote:
    In article <v5c7ij$113u3$[email protected]>,
    Lynn McGuire <[email protected]> wrote:
    On 6/23/2024 11:37 AM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
    Interesting to note the way margins of a real-life space venture are run: >>>
    Two astronauts have been stuck at the ISS for an extra two weeks,
    so far, because their ride has flat tires, and it's not a crisis,
    and nobody has had to volunteer to step out the airlock.

    For those who do not know, this is a play on "The Cold Equations"
    awesome incredibly sad short story:
    https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-cold-equations/

    Alternatively, it's a terrible story about people with extremely
    shitty pre-flight safety procedures.

    https://reactormag.com/on-needless-cruelty-in-sf-tom-godwins-the-cold-equations/

    In my opinion, James' article and the comments completely demolish the
    claim that it's a "terrible story". The fact that an sf story written
    over 70 years ago is memorable enough and had emotional impact enough
    to warrant the article and more comments than I've seen for any other
    of James' articles is remarkable.

    I consider it an excellent *story*. It's absolutely unrealistic. So?
    Most memorable stories are unrealistic. It could have been made much
    more plausible with many more details about the emergency nature of
    the preparation of the ship. That would have made a much worse story, IMO.

    It works because it was so simple: the pilot, the girl, and space.
    Just the unforgiving nature of space, and how it invokes our fears of
    not being in control of things. We're upset at the situation with
    nothing else to blame. Godwin did an terrific job at manipulating our
    emotions. As I said, an excellent story.

    Chris

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Scott Dorsey@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Mon Jun 24 23:09:37 2024
    In article <v5cjig$13iac$[email protected]>, BCFD 36 <[email protected]> wrote:

    The operative word above is "usually". Sometimes, there are those who
    decide that the margin for safety is just too high and too expensive and
    the margin is reduced. Sometimes reduced to zero. And it is rarely the >engineers who do this.

    The optimist sees the glass half-full.

    The pessimist sees it half-empty.

    The engineer sees a 50% margin against overflow.
    --scott


    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Don@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Tue Jun 25 03:00:38 2024
    Ted Nolan <tednolan> <[email protected]> wrote:
    Interesting to note the way margins of a real-life space venture are run:

    Two astronauts have been stuck at the ISS for an extra two weeks,
    so far, because their ride has flat tires, and it's not a crisis,
    and nobody has had to volunteer to step out the airlock.

    This passage from "The Purloined Letter" (Poe) leads me to believe
    Sherlock Holmes' predecessor, C. Auguste Dupin, prefers warm equations:

    As poet and mathematician, he would reason well; as mere
    mathematician, he could not have reasoned at all ...

    I dispute the availability, and thus the value, of that reason which
    is cultivated in any especial form other than the abstractly
    logical. I dispute, in particular, the reason educed by mathematical
    study. The mathematics are the science of form and quantity;
    mathematical reasoning is merely logic applied to observation upon
    form and quantity. The great error lies in supposing that even the
    truths of what is called pure algebra, are abstract or general
    truths. And this error is so egregious that I am confounded at the
    universality with which it has been received. Mathematical axioms
    are not axioms of general truth. What is true of relation-of form
    and quantity-is often grossly false in regard to morals, for
    example. In this latter science it is very usually untrue that the
    aggregated parts are equal to the whole. In chemistry also the axiom
    fails. In the consideration of motive it fails; for two motives,
    each of a given value, have not, necessarily, a value when united,
    equal to the sum of their values apart. There are numerous other
    mathematical truths which are only truths within the limits of
    relation. But the mathematician argues, from his finite truths,
    through habit, as if they were of an absolutely general
    applicability-as the world indeed imagines them to be. Bryant, in
    his very learned 'Mythology,' mentions an analogous source of error,
    when he says that 'although the Pagan fables are not believed, yet
    we forget ourselves continually, and make inferences from them as
    existing realities.' With the algebraists, however, who are Pagans
    themselves, the 'Pagan fables' are believed, and the inferences are
    made, not so much through lapse of memory, as through an
    unaccountable addling of the brains. In short, I never yet
    encountered the mere mathematician who could be trusted out of equal
    roots, or one who did not clandestinely hold it as a point of his
    faith that x2+px was absolutely and uq. Say to one of these
    gentlemen, by way of experiment, if you please, that you believe
    occasions may occur where x2+px is not altogether equal to q, and,
    having made him understand what you mean, get out of his reach as
    speedily as convenient, for, beyond doubt, he will endeavor to
    knock you down.

    Danke,

    --
    Don.......My cat's )\._.,--....,'``. https://crcomp.net/reviews.php telltale tall tail /, _.. \ _\ (`._ ,. Walk humbly with thy God.
    tells tall tales.. `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.' Make 1984 fiction again.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From John Savard@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Mon Jun 24 20:55:21 2024
    On Mon, 24 Jun 2024 13:05:36 -0700, BCFD 36 <[email protected]> wrote:

    And it is rarely the
    engineers who do this.

    Although sometimes they're pressured to put a different hat on in
    order to sign on when others do it.

    Yes, Morton Thiokol, I'm looking at you and remembering the Challenger disaster.

    John Savard

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Ted Nolan @21:1/5 to [email protected] on Tue Jun 25 04:33:04 2024
    In article <v5d1cs$16abb$[email protected]>,
    Lynn McGuire <[email protected]> wrote:
    On 6/24/2024 6:41 PM, Tony Nance wrote:
    On 6/24/24 7:09 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    In article <v5cjig$13iac$[email protected]>, BCFD 36
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    The operative word above is "usually". Sometimes, there are those who
    decide that the margin for safety is just too high and too expensive and >>>> the margin is reduced. Sometimes reduced to zero. And it is rarely the >>>> engineers who do this.

    The optimist sees the glass half-full.

    The pessimist sees it half-empty.

    The engineer sees a 50% margin against overflow.


    The physicist sees the glass is full, 50% water and 50% air.

    The chemist also sees the glass is full.

    Lynn



    Your Brother-In-Law: Water! Aintcha got no beer?
    --
    columbiaclosings.com
    What's not in Columbia anymore..

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Robert Woodward@21:1/5 to James Nicoll on Mon Jun 24 22:03:27 2024
    In article <v5c8pc$n12$[email protected]>,
    [email protected] (James Nicoll) wrote:

    In article <v5c7ij$113u3$[email protected]>,
    Lynn McGuire <[email protected]> wrote:
    On 6/23/2024 11:37 AM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
    Interesting to note the way margins of a real-life space venture are run: >>
    Two astronauts have been stuck at the ISS for an extra two weeks,
    so far, because their ride has flat tires, and it's not a crisis,
    and nobody has had to volunteer to step out the airlock.

    For those who do not know, this is a play on "The Cold Equations"
    awesome incredibly sad short story:
    https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-cold-equations/

    Alternatively, it's a terrible story about people with extremely
    shitty pre-flight safety procedures.

    https://reactormag.com/on-needless-cruelty-in-sf-tom-godwins-the-cold-equation
    s/

    Complacency can subvert excellently designed pre-flight safety
    procedures. BTW, I came up with an interplanetary space drive
    (non-Newtonian of course) that would be very mass sensitive (inspired by
    the stutterwarp in GDW's roleplaying game _Traveller: 2300AD_, later
    renamed _2300AD) and recalculations would be beyond the capability of
    the shuttle's computer and sensor installation.

    --
    "We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
    Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_. �-----------------------------------------------------
    Robert Woodward [email protected]

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Charles Packer@21:1/5 to John Savard on Tue Jun 25 07:35:22 2024
    On Mon, 24 Jun 2024 20:55:21 -0600, John Savard wrote:

    On Mon, 24 Jun 2024 13:05:36 -0700, BCFD 36 <[email protected]> wrote:

    And it is rarely the engineers who do this.

    Although sometimes they're pressured to put a different hat on in order
    to sign on when others do it.

    Yes, Morton Thiokol, I'm looking at you and remembering the Challenger disaster.

    John Savard

    A famous example of engineering foresight is the resolution of
    the Xenon poisoning incident that spoiled the startup of the first industrial-scale nuclear reactor.

    https://www.atomicarchive.com/history/manhattan-project/p4s36.html

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Paul S Person@21:1/5 to Scott Dorsey on Tue Jun 25 08:46:52 2024
    On 24 Jun 2024 18:28:08 -0000, [email protected] (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

    Paul S Person <[email protected]d> wrote:

    I can remember when riding a vehicle built by Boeing was a sensible
    thing to do. Now it looks more like an act of desperation.

    It's not just Boeing. There was a day when most of the people heading >aerospace companies were engineers.

    The last Boeing CEO who was an actual engineer was Phil Condit, who left
    in 2003 after engineering the McDonnell-Douglas merger (which was great for >the company but terrible for th industry). And he didn't even have a pilot's >license.

    Looks like "managing the design/testing/construction of air/space
    craft" will need to be added to "managing nuclear reactors" as things
    that people with MBAs should avoid.

    As opposed to, say, managing a fast food joint or perhaps even a
    ball-bearing plant [1]. Things where they aren't likely to actually
    kill people by using their education.

    [1] This may presuppose that the customers test sample the product to
    ensure that it is acceptable. Then again, fast food joints may be
    subject to health inspections that keep the quality up. Boeing, OTOH,
    famously captured its regulators, forcing Trump to order grounding of
    one of their more obvious mess-ups when the regulators' balked. (This,
    together with Project Warp Speed, are the two things Trump did as
    President that might actually be considered ... Presidential.)

    IIRC, one of the regulators' arguments was that every new plane had
    teething problems, and this was expected to have another 8 crashes
    over the next five years, which was "acceptable". It should go without
    saying that none of those who found such losses "acceptable" had any
    intention of ever /flying/ on one of them -- their risk was 0, so of
    course they found it acceptable.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From James Nicoll@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Tue Jun 25 16:19:20 2024
    In article <[email protected]>,
    Paul S Person <[email protected]d> wrote:
    On 24 Jun 2024 18:28:08 -0000, [email protected] (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

    Paul S Person <[email protected]d> wrote:

    I can remember when riding a vehicle built by Boeing was a sensible
    thing to do. Now it looks more like an act of desperation.

    It's not just Boeing. There was a day when most of the people heading >>aerospace companies were engineers.

    The last Boeing CEO who was an actual engineer was Phil Condit, who left
    in 2003 after engineering the McDonnell-Douglas merger (which was great for >>the company but terrible for th industry). And he didn't even have a pilot's >>license.

    Looks like "managing the design/testing/construction of air/space
    craft" will need to be added to "managing nuclear reactors" as things
    that people with MBAs should avoid.

    As opposed to, say, managing a fast food joint or perhaps even a
    ball-bearing plant [1]. Things where they aren't likely to actually
    kill people by using their education.

    [1] This may presuppose that the customers test sample the product to
    ensure that it is acceptable. Then again, fast food joints may be
    subject to health inspections that keep the quality up.

    Waterloo Region makes available the results of inspections or at
    least those where the restaurants failed. It's always interesting
    to see what regulations restaurants consider sometimes regulations
    and to think about what they'd do if nobody was watching.

    My namesake uncle went from the USN to working as a chef
    in high end restaurants. One result was that he never ate out
    if he could avoid it, preferring food he prepared himself and
    knew had not involved... short cuts.

    --
    My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
    My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
    My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
    My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mad Hamish@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Wed Jun 26 13:24:56 2024
    On Mon, 24 Jun 2024 11:43:45 -0500, Lynn McGuire
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 6/23/2024 11:37 AM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
    Interesting to note the way margins of a real-life space venture are run:

    Two astronauts have been stuck at the ISS for an extra two weeks,
    so far, because their ride has flat tires, and it's not a crisis,
    and nobody has had to volunteer to step out the airlock.

    Did you notice that the two astronauts that they sent up in the Boeing >Starliner are in their late 50s ? In other words, two old people.

    I object to calling people in their 50s old.

    Luckily, the SpaceX Dragon can hold up to six people.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mad Hamish@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Wed Jun 26 13:24:10 2024
    On Mon, 24 Jun 2024 22:03:27 -0700, Robert Woodward
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    In article <v5c8pc$n12$[email protected]>,
    [email protected] (James Nicoll) wrote:

    In article <v5c7ij$113u3$[email protected]>,
    Lynn McGuire <[email protected]> wrote:
    On 6/23/2024 11:37 AM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
    Interesting to note the way margins of a real-life space venture are run: >> >>
    Two astronauts have been stuck at the ISS for an extra two weeks,
    so far, because their ride has flat tires, and it's not a crisis,
    and nobody has had to volunteer to step out the airlock.

    For those who do not know, this is a play on "The Cold Equations"
    awesome incredibly sad short story:
    https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-cold-equations/

    Alternatively, it's a terrible story about people with extremely
    shitty pre-flight safety procedures.

    https://reactormag.com/on-needless-cruelty-in-sf-tom-godwins-the-cold-equation
    s/

    Complacency can subvert excellently designed pre-flight safety
    procedures. BTW, I came up with an interplanetary space drive
    (non-Newtonian of course) that would be very mass sensitive (inspired by
    the stutterwarp in GDW's roleplaying game _Traveller: 2300AD_, later
    renamed _2300AD) and recalculations would be beyond the capability of
    the shuttle's computer and sensor installation.

    Yes, but having a door that locks so that passengers can't just walk
    into your shuttle seems like a fairly simple precaution without much
    risk of problems from it

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Dimensional Traveler@21:1/5 to Mad Hamish on Tue Jun 25 22:37:23 2024
    On 6/25/2024 8:24 PM, Mad Hamish wrote:
    On Mon, 24 Jun 2024 22:03:27 -0700, Robert Woodward
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    In article <v5c8pc$n12$[email protected]>,
    [email protected] (James Nicoll) wrote:

    In article <v5c7ij$113u3$[email protected]>,
    Lynn McGuire <[email protected]> wrote:
    On 6/23/2024 11:37 AM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
    Interesting to note the way margins of a real-life space venture are run: >>>>>
    Two astronauts have been stuck at the ISS for an extra two weeks,
    so far, because their ride has flat tires, and it's not a crisis,
    and nobody has had to volunteer to step out the airlock.

    For those who do not know, this is a play on "The Cold Equations"
    awesome incredibly sad short story:
    https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-cold-equations/

    Alternatively, it's a terrible story about people with extremely
    shitty pre-flight safety procedures.

    https://reactormag.com/on-needless-cruelty-in-sf-tom-godwins-the-cold-equation
    s/

    Complacency can subvert excellently designed pre-flight safety
    procedures. BTW, I came up with an interplanetary space drive
    (non-Newtonian of course) that would be very mass sensitive (inspired by
    the stutterwarp in GDW's roleplaying game _Traveller: 2300AD_, later
    renamed _2300AD) and recalculations would be beyond the capability of
    the shuttle's computer and sensor installation.

    Yes, but having a door that locks so that passengers can't just walk
    into your shuttle seems like a fairly simple precaution without much
    risk of problems from it

    My immediate thought was "But it was written in the Golden Age when it
    was just assumed that only those with an IQ higher than a potato's would
    be allowed into space!"

    Then reality drops a ton of potatoes on me.

    --
    I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
    dirty old man.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From John Savard@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Wed Jun 26 08:05:49 2024
    On Wed, 26 Jun 2024 13:24:56 +1000, Mad Hamish <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Mon, 24 Jun 2024 11:43:45 -0500, Lynn McGuire
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    Did you notice that the two astronauts that they sent up in the Boeing >>Starliner are in their late 50s ? In other words, two old people.

    I object to calling people in their 50s old.

    People in their 50s are middle-aged, not elderly, let alone senescent.

    However, they are old enough that their capacity for vigorous physical
    activity is likely to be somewhat diminished compared to that of an
    individual in his or her 30s. This, of course, varies greatly between individuals, as those who exercise regularly and maintain fitness
    certainly can be in good shape in their 50s, even if by then those who
    were largely sedentary will have lost much of the vigor of youth.

    So, if your mental picture of an astronaut comes from the Mercury,
    Gemini, and Apollo programs, so that when you think "astronaut" you
    think "test pilot", well, 50 is kind of old for _that_. By the time
    the Space Shuttle came along, though, a 50-year-old mission
    specialist, as opposed to a 50-year-old pilot astronaut, would be no
    big deal.

    John Savard

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Joy Beeson@21:1/5 to Nicoll on Wed Jun 26 19:54:10 2024
    On Mon, 24 Jun 2024 17:01:33 -0000 (UTC), [email protected] (James
    Nicoll) wrote:

    Alternatively, it's a terrible story about people with extremely
    shitty pre-flight safety procedures.

    "Poverty" and "shitty" are, of course, exact synonyms.

    --
    Joy Beeson
    joy beeson at centurylink dot net

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From James Nicoll@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Thu Jun 27 13:22:29 2024
    In article <[email protected]>,
    Joy Beeson <[email protected]d> wrote:
    On Mon, 24 Jun 2024 17:01:33 -0000 (UTC), [email protected] (James
    Nicoll) wrote:

    Alternatively, it's a terrible story about people with extremely
    shitty pre-flight safety procedures.

    "Poverty" and "shitty" are, of course, exact synonyms.

    I have no idea what prompted that sentence. Does poverty precude
    looking in the only closet of a small vessel to check for a stow
    away whose mass will surely doom the mission? Are people in possession
    of starships generally unable to afford locks?
    --
    My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
    My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
    My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
    My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jerry Brown@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Thu Jun 27 17:44:27 2024
    On Tue, 25 Jun 2024 22:37:23 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 6/25/2024 8:24 PM, Mad Hamish wrote:
    On Mon, 24 Jun 2024 22:03:27 -0700, Robert Woodward
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    <snip>

    Yes, but having a door that locks so that passengers can't just walk
    into your shuttle seems like a fairly simple precaution without much
    risk of problems from it

    My immediate thought was "But it was written in the Golden Age when it
    was just assumed that only those with an IQ higher than a potato's would
    be allowed into space!"

    Then reality drops a ton of potatoes on me.

    I recall one of Jack Williams' CT novels referring to the captain of a
    ship handing over its keys (not sure if hatch, ignition or both).

    --
    Jerry Brown

    A cat may look at a king
    (but probably won't bother)

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From James Nicoll@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Thu Jun 27 17:05:53 2024
    In article <[email protected]>,
    Jerry Brown <[email protected]d> wrote:
    On Tue, 25 Jun 2024 22:37:23 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 6/25/2024 8:24 PM, Mad Hamish wrote:
    On Mon, 24 Jun 2024 22:03:27 -0700, Robert Woodward
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    <snip>

    Yes, but having a door that locks so that passengers can't just walk
    into your shuttle seems like a fairly simple precaution without much
    risk of problems from it

    My immediate thought was "But it was written in the Golden Age when it
    was just assumed that only those with an IQ higher than a potato's would
    be allowed into space!"

    Then reality drops a ton of potatoes on me.

    I recall one of Jack Williams' CT novels referring to the captain of a
    ship handing over its keys (not sure if hatch, ignition or both).

    Better than the Tom Corbett situation, where the lack of useful airlock
    locks came up from time to time.

    --
    My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
    My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
    My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
    My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From BCFD 36@21:1/5 to James Nicoll on Thu Jun 27 10:56:29 2024
    On 6/27/24 06:22, James Nicoll wrote:
    In article <[email protected]>,
    Joy Beeson <[email protected]d> wrote:
    On Mon, 24 Jun 2024 17:01:33 -0000 (UTC), [email protected] (James
    Nicoll) wrote:

    Alternatively, it's a terrible story about people with extremely
    shitty pre-flight safety procedures.

    "Poverty" and "shitty" are, of course, exact synonyms.

    I have no idea what prompted that sentence. Does poverty precude
    looking in the only closet of a small vessel to check for a stow
    away whose mass will surely doom the mission? Are people in possession
    of starships generally unable to afford locks?

    That wasn't clear to me either. Now I don't feel so alone.

    --
    ----------------

    Dave Scruggs
    Senior Software Engineer - Lockheed Martin, et. al (mostly Retired)
    Captain - Boulder Creek Fire (Retired)
    Board of Directors - Boulder Creek Fire Protection District (What was I thinking?)

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Don@21:1/5 to Michael on Thu Jun 27 18:56:41 2024
    Michael wrote:
    James wrote:
    Joy wrote:
    James wrote:

    Alternatively, it's a terrible story about people with extremely
    shitty pre-flight safety procedures.

    "Poverty" and "shitty" are, of course, exact synonyms.

    I have no idea what prompted that sentence.

    I was afraid that it was just me.

    The poverty of dung flung into your eyes stinks! Perhaps "poor
    pre-flight safety procedures" is phrased better?

    Danke,

    --
    Don.......My cat's )\._.,--....,'``. https://crcomp.net/reviews.php telltale tall tail /, _.. \ _\ (`._ ,. Walk humbly with thy God.
    tells tall tales.. `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.' Make 1984 fiction again.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jay E. Morris@21:1/5 to Cryptoengineer on Thu Jun 27 19:31:51 2024
    On 6/27/2024 4:19 PM, Cryptoengineer wrote:
    Apparently, US military vehicles such as tanks and jet aircraft don't
    have keys - they are normally stored in secure areas, and lost
    per-vehicle keys would provide an failure path in an emergency.

    Can't speak for jets but armored vehicle hatches are padlocked closed.
    Non armored (at least in my day) used a padlock and chain between the
    steering wheel and another point. If the key is lost it just requires
    cutting the padlock, not replacing the ignition lock. But if someone
    wants to drive the tank off and run it into the MP station (Ft. Knox,
    70s) they just need to bring the bolt cutters.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Scott Dorsey@21:1/5 to Jay E. Morris on Fri Jun 28 01:13:35 2024
    Jay E. Morris <[email protected]> wrote:
    On 6/27/2024 4:19 PM, Cryptoengineer wrote:
    Apparently, US military vehicles such as tanks and jet aircraft don't
    have keys - they are normally stored in secure areas, and lost
    per-vehicle keys would provide an failure path in an emergency.

    Can't speak for jets but armored vehicle hatches are padlocked closed.
    Non armored (at least in my day) used a padlock and chain between the >steering wheel and another point. If the key is lost it just requires >cutting the padlock, not replacing the ignition lock. But if someone
    wants to drive the tank off and run it into the MP station (Ft. Knox,
    70s) they just need to bring the bolt cutters.

    A former worker in our computer security group, after taking a lot of
    the wrong kind of drugs, decided to take a ride in an APC through the
    streets of Richmond, VA. A google search on "Richmond Tank Thing"
    should show some of the video. Sadly he was not even one of the more
    crazy people in his organization.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Dimensional Traveler@21:1/5 to Lynn McGuire on Thu Jun 27 19:22:49 2024
    On 6/27/2024 7:08 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
    On 6/23/2024 11:37 AM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
    Interesting to note the way margins of a real-life space venture are run:

    Two astronauts have been stuck at the ISS for an extra two weeks,
    so far, because their ride has flat tires, and it's not a crisis,
    and nobody has had to volunteer to step out the airlock.

    The real question is, there are 7 or 8 people in those tin cans.  Is
    there enough food, water, air, and diapers for all of them for another
    month ?  Or is SpaceX going to have to send an emergency supply ship ?

    Can the Boeing Starliner drop without a crew ?  I suspect so.

    That's kind of a dumb question. OF COURSE the Starliner can be dropped.
    Undock it, do an EVA to push it a bit and it will eventually "land"
    somewhere on the planet.

    Now, a controlled drop to a specific area.....

    --
    I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
    dirty old man.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Paul S Person@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Fri Jun 28 08:46:36 2024
    On Thu, 27 Jun 2024 19:22:49 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 6/27/2024 7:08 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
    On 6/23/2024 11:37 AM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
    Interesting to note the way margins of a real-life space venture are run: >>>
    Two astronauts have been stuck at the ISS for an extra two weeks,
    so far, because their ride has flat tires, and it's not a crisis,
    and nobody has had to volunteer to step out the airlock.

    The real question is, there are 7 or 8 people in those tin cans.� Is
    there enough food, water, air, and diapers for all of them for another
    month ?� Or is SpaceX going to have to send an emergency supply ship ?

    Can the Boeing Starliner drop without a crew ?� I suspect so.

    That's kind of a dumb question. OF COURSE the Starliner can be dropped.
    Undock it, do an EVA to push it a bit and it will eventually "land"
    somewhere on the planet.

    Now, a controlled drop to a specific area.....

    Perhaps a small explosive charge with a timer would be advisable, to
    keep it from coming down in one piece. Ideally, it would come down in
    zero pieces, providing a nice show as each teeny-tiny splinter burns
    up on re-entry.

    At last! A Boeing crash that doesn't kill anybody or do any collateral
    damage!
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jay E. Morris@21:1/5 to Paul S Person on Fri Jun 28 17:48:08 2024
    On 6/28/2024 10:46 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
    On Thu, 27 Jun 2024 19:22:49 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 6/27/2024 7:08 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
    On 6/23/2024 11:37 AM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
    Interesting to note the way margins of a real-life space venture are run: >>>>
    Two astronauts have been stuck at the ISS for an extra two weeks,
    so far, because their ride has flat tires, and it's not a crisis,
    and nobody has had to volunteer to step out the airlock.

    The real question is, there are 7 or 8 people in those tin cans.  Is
    there enough food, water, air, and diapers for all of them for another
    month ?  Or is SpaceX going to have to send an emergency supply ship ?

    Can the Boeing Starliner drop without a crew ?  I suspect so.

    That's kind of a dumb question. OF COURSE the Starliner can be dropped.
    Undock it, do an EVA to push it a bit and it will eventually "land"
    somewhere on the planet.

    Now, a controlled drop to a specific area.....

    Perhaps a small explosive charge with a timer would be advisable, to
    keep it from coming down in one piece. Ideally, it would come down in
    zero pieces, providing a nice show as each teeny-tiny splinter burns
    up on re-entry.

    At last! A Boeing crash that doesn't kill anybody or do any collateral damage!

    The problem is with the thrusters on the service module which was never
    meant to survive re-entry[1]. The mission plan included a possibility
    that the astronauts could remain up to 45 days, and that has been
    extended to 90. As there is nothing wrong with the crew module they
    could leave now but the capsule is being used as a test bed. On the
    ground fixes are being worked, then tested by the astronauts.

    They have fixed four out of the five thrusters that failed.

    https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/28/science/nasa-boeing-starliner-mission-90-days-scn/index.html

    [1]But as we've seen lately that does not mean that it actually will.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Dimensional Traveler@21:1/5 to Paul S Person on Fri Jun 28 18:35:26 2024
    On 6/28/2024 8:46 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
    On Thu, 27 Jun 2024 19:22:49 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 6/27/2024 7:08 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
    On 6/23/2024 11:37 AM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
    Interesting to note the way margins of a real-life space venture are run: >>>>
    Two astronauts have been stuck at the ISS for an extra two weeks,
    so far, because their ride has flat tires, and it's not a crisis,
    and nobody has had to volunteer to step out the airlock.

    The real question is, there are 7 or 8 people in those tin cans.  Is
    there enough food, water, air, and diapers for all of them for another
    month ?  Or is SpaceX going to have to send an emergency supply ship ?

    Can the Boeing Starliner drop without a crew ?  I suspect so.

    That's kind of a dumb question. OF COURSE the Starliner can be dropped.
    Undock it, do an EVA to push it a bit and it will eventually "land"
    somewhere on the planet.

    Now, a controlled drop to a specific area.....

    Perhaps a small explosive charge with a timer would be advisable, to
    keep it from coming down in one piece. Ideally, it would come down in
    zero pieces, providing a nice show as each teeny-tiny splinter burns
    up on re-entry.

    It would take more than a small explosive charge to do that.

    --
    I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
    dirty old man.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Paul S Person@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Sat Jun 29 08:37:52 2024
    On Fri, 28 Jun 2024 22:02:41 -0400, Cryptoengineer
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 6/28/2024 9:35 PM, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
    On 6/28/2024 8:46 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
    On Thu, 27 Jun 2024 19:22:49 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 6/27/2024 7:08 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
    On 6/23/2024 11:37 AM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
    Interesting to note the way margins of a real-life space venture
    are run:

    Two astronauts have been stuck at the ISS for an extra two weeks,
    so far, because their ride has flat tires, and it's not a crisis,
    and nobody has had to volunteer to step out the airlock.

    The real question is, there are 7 or 8 people in those tin cans.� Is >>>>> there enough food, water, air, and diapers for all of them for another >>>>> month ?� Or is SpaceX going to have to send an emergency supply ship ? >>>>>
    Can the Boeing Starliner drop without a crew ?� I suspect so.

    That's kind of a dumb question.� OF COURSE the Starliner can be dropped. >>>> � Undock it, do an EVA to push it a bit and it will eventually "land"
    somewhere on the planet.

    Now, a controlled drop to a specific area.....

    Perhaps a small explosive charge with a timer would be advisable, to
    keep it from coming down in one piece. Ideally, it would come down in
    zero pieces, providing a nice show as each teeny-tiny splinter burns
    up on re-entry.

    It would take more than a small explosive charge to do that.

    Starliner has already made one (sort of) successful unmanned trip
    to the ISS, and returned safely. It is completely capable of returning >unmanned, no explosives needed.

    But yes, on that trip they also had thruster problems.

    The Boeing Solution to problems:
    -- capture the regulators
    -- full speed ahead!

    There was a time when, around here, Boeing was the plane to fly.

    But then they moved to corporate offices to Chicago.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Dimensional Traveler@21:1/5 to Paul S Person on Sat Jun 29 17:25:31 2024
    On 6/29/2024 8:37 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
    On Fri, 28 Jun 2024 22:02:41 -0400, Cryptoengineer
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 6/28/2024 9:35 PM, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
    On 6/28/2024 8:46 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
    On Thu, 27 Jun 2024 19:22:49 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 6/27/2024 7:08 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
    On 6/23/2024 11:37 AM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
    Interesting to note the way margins of a real-life space venture >>>>>>> are run:

    Two astronauts have been stuck at the ISS for an extra two weeks, >>>>>>> so far, because their ride has flat tires, and it's not a crisis, >>>>>>> and nobody has had to volunteer to step out the airlock.

    The real question is, there are 7 or 8 people in those tin cans.  Is >>>>>> there enough food, water, air, and diapers for all of them for another >>>>>> month ?  Or is SpaceX going to have to send an emergency supply ship ? >>>>>>
    Can the Boeing Starliner drop without a crew ?  I suspect so.

    That's kind of a dumb question.  OF COURSE the Starliner can be dropped. >>>>>   Undock it, do an EVA to push it a bit and it will eventually "land" >>>>> somewhere on the planet.

    Now, a controlled drop to a specific area.....

    Perhaps a small explosive charge with a timer would be advisable, to
    keep it from coming down in one piece. Ideally, it would come down in
    zero pieces, providing a nice show as each teeny-tiny splinter burns
    up on re-entry.

    It would take more than a small explosive charge to do that.

    Starliner has already made one (sort of) successful unmanned trip
    to the ISS, and returned safely. It is completely capable of returning
    unmanned, no explosives needed.

    But yes, on that trip they also had thruster problems.

    The Boeing Solution to problems:
    -- capture the regulators
    -- full speed ahead!

    There was a time when, around here, Boeing was the plane to fly.

    But then they moved to corporate offices to Chicago.

    You would think all that wind would make it easier to fly....

    --
    I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
    dirty old man.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Dimensional Traveler@21:1/5 to Michael F. Stemper on Sun Jun 30 10:02:55 2024
    On 6/30/2024 9:25 AM, Michael F. Stemper wrote:
    On 26/06/2024 14.42, Lynn McGuire wrote:
    On 6/24/2024 12:01 PM, James Nicoll wrote:
    In article <v5c7ij$113u3$[email protected]>,
    Lynn McGuire  <[email protected]> wrote:
    On 6/23/2024 11:37 AM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
    Interesting to note the way margins of a real-life space venture
    are run:

    Two astronauts have been stuck at the ISS for an extra two weeks,
    so far, because their ride has flat tires, and it's not a crisis,
    and nobody has had to volunteer to step out the airlock.

    For those who do not know, this is a play on "The Cold Equations"
    awesome incredibly sad short story:
        https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-cold-equations/

    Alternatively, it's a terrible story about people with extremely
    shitty pre-flight safety procedures.

    https://reactormag.com/on-needless-cruelty-in-sf-tom-godwins-the-cold-equations/

    There are so many stories about people sneaking on a ship that we have
    created a word in the English language for them: Stowaways.

    Did that term arise from *stories* about the concept? I was under the impression that
    it came from real, physical people sneaking on board real, physical ships.

    I sense a *whoosh*....

    --
    I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
    dirty old man.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Scott Dorsey@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Sun Jun 30 17:39:18 2024
    In article <v5s33t$jvjk$[email protected]>,
    Dimensional Traveler <[email protected]> wrote:
    On 6/30/2024 9:25 AM, Michael F. Stemper wrote:
    On 26/06/2024 14.42, Lynn McGuire wrote:
    On 6/24/2024 12:01 PM, James Nicoll wrote:
    In article <v5c7ij$113u3$[email protected]>,
    Lynn McGuire  <[email protected]> wrote:
    On 6/23/2024 11:37 AM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
    Interesting to note the way margins of a real-life space venture
    are run:

    Two astronauts have been stuck at the ISS for an extra two weeks,
    so far, because their ride has flat tires, and it's not a crisis,
    and nobody has had to volunteer to step out the airlock.

    For those who do not know, this is a play on "The Cold Equations"
    awesome incredibly sad short story:
        https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-cold-equations/ >>>>>
    Alternatively, it's a terrible story about people with extremely
    shitty pre-flight safety procedures.

    https://reactormag.com/on-needless-cruelty-in-sf-tom-godwins-the-cold-equations/

    There are so many stories about people sneaking on a ship that we have
    created a word in the English language for them: Stowaways.

    Did that term arise from *stories* about the concept? I was under the
    impression that
    it came from real, physical people sneaking on board real, physical ships. >>
    I sense a *whoosh*....

    In order to talk about real physical people you have to be able to tell
    their stories. This is why we make up words, to be able to tell these stories. A good discussion of this process can be found in "How the Alphabet Was Made" from Kipling's _Just So Stories_.
    --scott

    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jay E. Morris@21:1/5 to Paul S Person on Sun Jun 30 19:52:38 2024
    On 6/28/2024 10:46 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
    On Thu, 27 Jun 2024 19:22:49 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 6/27/2024 7:08 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
    On 6/23/2024 11:37 AM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
    Interesting to note the way margins of a real-life space venture are run: >>>>
    Two astronauts have been stuck at the ISS for an extra two weeks,
    so far, because their ride has flat tires, and it's not a crisis,
    and nobody has had to volunteer to step out the airlock.

    The real question is, there are 7 or 8 people in those tin cans.  Is
    there enough food, water, air, and diapers for all of them for another
    month ?  Or is SpaceX going to have to send an emergency supply ship ?

    Can the Boeing Starliner drop without a crew ?  I suspect so.

    That's kind of a dumb question. OF COURSE the Starliner can be dropped.
    Undock it, do an EVA to push it a bit and it will eventually "land"
    somewhere on the planet.

    Now, a controlled drop to a specific area.....

    Perhaps a small explosive charge with a timer would be advisable, to
    keep it from coming down in one piece. Ideally, it would come down in
    zero pieces, providing a nice show as each teeny-tiny splinter burns
    up on re-entry.

    At last! A Boeing crash that doesn't kill anybody or do any collateral damage!

    The problem is with the thrusters on the service module which was never
    meant to survive re-entry[1]. The mission plan included a possibility
    that the astronauts could remain up to 45 days, and that has been
    extended to 90. As there is nothing wrong with the crew module they
    could leave now but the capsule is being used as a test bed. On the
    ground fixes are being worked, then tested by the astronauts.

    They have fixed four out of the five thrusters that failed.

    https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/28/science/nasa-boeing-starliner-mission-90-days-scn/index.html

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jay E. Morris@21:1/5 to Jay E. Morris on Sun Jun 30 19:53:36 2024
    On 6/30/2024 7:52 PM, Jay E. Morris wrote:
    On 6/28/2024 10:46 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
    On Thu, 27 Jun 2024 19:22:49 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 6/27/2024 7:08 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
    On 6/23/2024 11:37 AM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
    Interesting to note the way margins of a real-life space venture
    are run:

    Two astronauts have been stuck at the ISS for an extra two weeks,
    so far, because their ride has flat tires, and it's not a crisis,
    and nobody has had to volunteer to step out the airlock.

    The real question is, there are 7 or 8 people in those tin cans.  Is
    there enough food, water, air, and diapers for all of them for another >>>> month ?  Or is SpaceX going to have to send an emergency supply ship ? >>>>
    Can the Boeing Starliner drop without a crew ?  I suspect so.

    That's kind of a dumb question.  OF COURSE the Starliner can be dropped. >>>   Undock it, do an EVA to push it a bit and it will eventually "land"
    somewhere on the planet.

    Now, a controlled drop to a specific area.....

    Perhaps a small explosive charge with a timer would be advisable, to
    keep it from coming down in one piece. Ideally, it would come down in
    zero pieces, providing a nice show as each teeny-tiny splinter burns
    up on re-entry.

    At last! A Boeing crash that doesn't kill anybody or do any collateral
    damage!

    The problem is with the thrusters on the service module which was never
    meant to survive re-entry[1]. The mission plan included a possibility
    that the astronauts could remain up to 45 days, and that has been
    extended to 90. As there is nothing wrong with the crew module they
    could leave now but the capsule is being used as a test bed. On the
    ground fixes are being worked, then tested by the astronauts.

    They have fixed four out of the five thrusters that failed.

    https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/28/science/nasa-boeing-starliner-mission-90-days-scn/index.html





    And I have no idea how that escaped into the wild again.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From The Horny Goat@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Wed Jul 10 11:41:46 2024
    On Sun, 23 Jun 2024 14:47:24 -0400, Cryptoengineer
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    Boeing would really, really like to figure out what went wrong with
    the thrusters. Unfortunately, they options for checking them in orbit
    are very limited, and they're on the service module, which will be
    discard before entry, and burn up.

    Hopefully, a door won't pop out of this Boeing craft before they
    land.

    An interesting sidenote: This will be the first time the US has
    tried to land a manned capsule on *land*, as opposed to an ocean
    splashdown.

    I'm sure they would.

    As for on land landings, I'm sure they're sure they can do it given
    the Soviets were doing so exclusively as far back as the early 1960s.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From The Horny Goat@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Wed Jul 10 11:46:19 2024
    On Wed, 26 Jun 2024 14:13:33 -0500, Lynn McGuire
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    I object to calling people in their 50s old.

    Luckily, the SpaceX Dragon can hold up to six people.

    I am 63 for a couple of more days, I am OLD.

    I must be positively decrepit being 5 years older than you...

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Scott Lurndal@21:1/5 to The Horny Goat on Wed Jul 10 21:59:19 2024
    The Horny Goat <[email protected]> writes:
    On Sat, 29 Jun 2024 08:37:52 -0700, Paul S Person ><[email protected]d> wrote:

    The Boeing Solution to problems:
    -- capture the regulators
    -- full speed ahead!

    There was a time when, around here, Boeing was the plane to fly.

    But then they moved to corporate offices to Chicago.

    In terms of corporate liveability (particularly for people accustomed
    to the sort of perks the corporate offices normally offer) Seattle is
    much nicer than Chicago.

    They didn't stay long in Chicago, they wasted another billion dollars
    moving to northern virginia/DC area.

    Pointless b-school bullshit has destroyed a formerly excellent
    engineering company.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From The Horny Goat@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Wed Jul 10 14:36:11 2024
    On Sat, 29 Jun 2024 08:37:52 -0700, Paul S Person
    <[email protected]d> wrote:

    The Boeing Solution to problems:
    -- capture the regulators
    -- full speed ahead!

    There was a time when, around here, Boeing was the plane to fly.

    But then they moved to corporate offices to Chicago.

    In terms of corporate liveability (particularly for people accustomed
    to the sort of perks the corporate offices normally offer) Seattle is
    much nicer than Chicago.

    Of course Boeing Field is about 25-30 min by I-5 north of downtown
    Seattle...

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Robert Woodward@21:1/5 to The Horny Goat on Wed Jul 10 21:43:45 2024
    In article <[email protected]>,
    The Horny Goat <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Sat, 29 Jun 2024 08:37:52 -0700, Paul S Person <[email protected]d> wrote:

    The Boeing Solution to problems:
    -- capture the regulators
    -- full speed ahead!

    There was a time when, around here, Boeing was the plane to fly.

    But then they moved to corporate offices to Chicago.

    In terms of corporate liveability (particularly for people accustomed
    to the sort of perks the corporate offices normally offer) Seattle is
    much nicer than Chicago.

    Of course Boeing Field is about 25-30 min by I-5 north of downtown
    Seattle...

    I suspect you are thinking of Paine Field which is adjacent to the
    Everett plant. The airport usually referred to as Boeing Field, is
    formally the King County International Airport and it is about 5 minutes
    south of downtown Seattle on I-5.

    --
    "We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
    Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_. -------------------------------------------------------
    Robert Woodward [email protected]

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Paul S Person@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Thu Jul 11 09:01:15 2024
    On Wed, 10 Jul 2024 20:20:50 -0400, William Hyde
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    The Horny Goat wrote:
    On Wed, 26 Jun 2024 14:13:33 -0500, Lynn McGuire
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    I object to calling people in their 50s old.

    Luckily, the SpaceX Dragon can hold up to six people.

    I am 63 for a couple of more days, I am OLD.

    I must be positively decrepit being 5 years older than you...


    Kids these days!

    Indeed.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Paul S Person@21:1/5 to All on Thu Jul 11 09:02:42 2024
    On Wed, 10 Jul 2024 21:59:19 GMT, [email protected] (Scott Lurndal)
    wrote:

    The Horny Goat <[email protected]> writes:
    On Sat, 29 Jun 2024 08:37:52 -0700, Paul S Person >><[email protected]d> wrote:

    The Boeing Solution to problems:
    -- capture the regulators
    -- full speed ahead!

    There was a time when, around here, Boeing was the plane to fly.

    But then they moved to corporate offices to Chicago.

    In terms of corporate liveability (particularly for people accustomed
    to the sort of perks the corporate offices normally offer) Seattle is
    much nicer than Chicago.

    They didn't stay long in Chicago, they wasted another billion dollars
    moving to northern virginia/DC area.

    I suppose that made it easier to capture their regulators ...

    Pointless b-school bullshit has destroyed a formerly excellent
    engineering company.

    Just another field that MBAs really aren't up to handling.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Ted Nolan @21:1/5 to All on Tue Aug 6 03:28:09 2024
    In article <[email protected]>,
    Ted Nolan <tednolan> <tednolan> wrote:
    Interesting to note the way margins of a real-life space venture are run:

    Two astronauts have been stuck at the ISS for an extra two weeks,
    so far, because their ride has flat tires, and it's not a crisis,
    and nobody has had to volunteer to step out the airlock.
    --
    columbiaclosings.com
    What's not in Columbia anymore..

    Things are looking worse:

    https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/08/nasa-likely-to-significantly-delay-the-launch-of-crew-9-due-to-starliner-issues/

    Software struggles

    NASA has quietly been studying the possibility of crew
    returning in a Dragon for more than a month. As NASA and
    Boeing engineers have yet to identify a root cause of the
    thruster failure, the possibility of Wilmore and Williams
    returning on a Dragon spacecraft has increased in the last
    10 days. NASA has consistently said that 'crew safety' will
    be its No. 1 priority in deciding how to proceed.

    The Crew 9 delay is relevant to the Starliner dilemma for
    a couple of reasons. One, it gives NASA more time to determine
    the flight-worthiness of Starliner. However, there is also
    another surprising reason for the delay--the need to update
    Starliner's flight software. Three separate, well-placed
    sources have confirmed to Ars that the current flight
    software on board Starliner cannot perform an automated
    undocking from the space station and entry into Earth's
    atmosphere.

    At first blush, this seems absurd. After all, Boeing's
    Orbital Flight Test 2 mission in May 2022 was a fully
    automated test of the Starliner vehicle. During this mission,
    the spacecraft flew up to the space station without crew
    on board and then returned to Earth six days later. Although
    the 2022 flight test was completed by a different Starliner
    vehicle, it clearly demonstrated the ability of the program's
    flight software to autonomously dock and return to Earth.
    Boeing did not respond to a media query about why this
    capability was removed for the crew flight test.

    "At first blush, this seems absurd."

    Well, yes. Second blush as well.
    --
    columbiaclosings.com
    What's not in Columbia anymore..

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Paul S Person@21:1/5 to All on Tue Aug 6 09:01:46 2024
    On 6 Aug 2024 03:28:09 GMT, [email protected] (Ted Nolan <tednolan>)
    wrote:

    In article <[email protected]>,
    Ted Nolan <tednolan> <tednolan> wrote:
    Interesting to note the way margins of a real-life space venture are run:

    Two astronauts have been stuck at the ISS for an extra two weeks,
    so far, because their ride has flat tires, and it's not a crisis,
    and nobody has had to volunteer to step out the airlock.
    --
    columbiaclosings.com
    What's not in Columbia anymore..

    Things are looking worse:

    https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/08/nasa-likely-to-significantly-delay-the-launch-of-crew-9-due-to-starliner-issues/

    Software struggles

    NASA has quietly been studying the possibility of crew
    returning in a Dragon for more than a month. As NASA and
    Boeing engineers have yet to identify a root cause of the
    thruster failure, the possibility of Wilmore and Williams
    returning on a Dragon spacecraft has increased in the last
    10 days. NASA has consistently said that 'crew safety' will
    be its No. 1 priority in deciding how to proceed.

    The Crew 9 delay is relevant to the Starliner dilemma for
    a couple of reasons. One, it gives NASA more time to determine
    the flight-worthiness of Starliner. However, there is also
    another surprising reason for the delay--the need to update
    Starliner's flight software. Three separate, well-placed
    sources have confirmed to Ars that the current flight
    software on board Starliner cannot perform an automated
    undocking from the space station and entry into Earth's
    atmosphere.

    At first blush, this seems absurd. After all, Boeing's
    Orbital Flight Test 2 mission in May 2022 was a fully
    automated test of the Starliner vehicle. During this mission,
    the spacecraft flew up to the space station without crew
    on board and then returned to Earth six days later. Although
    the 2022 flight test was completed by a different Starliner
    vehicle, it clearly demonstrated the ability of the program's
    flight software to autonomously dock and return to Earth.
    Boeing did not respond to a media query about why this
    capability was removed for the crew flight test.

    "At first blush, this seems absurd."

    Well, yes. Second blush as well.

    Some MBA probably determined that it wasn't needed and so shouldn't be included, at least at the present price point.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Bobbie Sellers@21:1/5 to The Horny Goat on Thu Aug 8 17:57:12 2024
    On 7/10/24 11:46, The Horny Goat wrote:
    On Wed, 26 Jun 2024 14:13:33 -0500, Lynn McGuire
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    I object to calling people in their 50s old.

    Luckily, the SpaceX Dragon can hold up to six people.

    I am 63 for a couple of more days, I am OLD.

    I must be positively decrepit being 5 years older than you...

    People of 50 are mere children, generally having raised
    their own children already but maybe they are still sending
    those to higher education.

    I write only from the viewpoint of 87 yoa.
    Auto censoring political comments.

    bliss

    --
    b l i s s - S F 4 e v e r at D S L E x t r e m e dot com

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Gary R. Schmidt@21:1/5 to Lynn McGuire on Fri Aug 9 15:29:59 2024
    On 09/08/2024 10:35, Lynn McGuire wrote:
    [SNIP]>
    Anytime any engineering business names an accountant as the CEO, write
    it off.  Boeing did so several years ago.  The accountants will drive
    the costs to zero no matter what happens to the employees.


    Or to the product.

    Cheers,
    Gary B-)

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Scott Dorsey@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Fri Aug 9 16:57:03 2024
    Lynn McGuire <[email protected]> wrote:

    Anytime any engineering business names an accountant as the CEO, write
    it off. Boeing did so several years ago. The accountants will drive
    the costs to zero no matter what happens to the employees.

    When I was a kid, Boeing, Lockheed, and Douglas all had presidents who
    were certified to fly their company's products and sometimes did.

    This is no longer the case; it is as if General Motors was run by someone
    who couldn't drive.

    Note that Air Tractor's president can fly his company's products. Not
    sure about Cessna or Piper anymore.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jay E. Morris@21:1/5 to Scott Dorsey on Fri Aug 9 15:52:44 2024
    On 8/9/2024 11:57 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    Lynn McGuire <[email protected]> wrote:

    Anytime any engineering business names an accountant as the CEO, write
    it off. Boeing did so several years ago. The accountants will drive
    the costs to zero no matter what happens to the employees.

    When I was a kid, Boeing, Lockheed, and Douglas all had presidents who
    were certified to fly their company's products and sometimes did.

    This is no longer the case; it is as if General Motors was run by someone
    who couldn't drive.

    Note that Air Tractor's president can fly his company's products. Not
    sure about Cessna or Piper anymore.
    --scott

    Boeing's new CEO, Robert “Kelly” Ortberg. He may not be able to fly them but at least he's not an accountant, mechanical engineering degree. His
    office will be in Seattle factory, not Chicago.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/08/new-boeing-ceo-kelly-ortberg.html

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Bobbie Sellers@21:1/5 to Lynn McGuire on Fri Aug 9 18:38:34 2024
    On 8/9/24 13:45, Lynn McGuire wrote:
    On 8/9/2024 11:57 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    Lynn McGuire  <[email protected]> wrote:

    Anytime any engineering business names an accountant as the CEO, write
    it off.  Boeing did so several years ago.  The accountants will drive
    the costs to zero no matter what happens to the employees.

    When I was a kid, Boeing, Lockheed, and Douglas all had presidents who
    were certified to fly their company's products and sometimes did.

    This is no longer the case; it is as if General Motors was run by someone
    who couldn't drive.

    Note that Air Tractor's president can fly his company's products.  Not
    sure about Cessna or Piper anymore.
    --scott

    Hughes Aircraft too.

    Lynn

    Commodore Business machines was a business employing
    competent and inventive engineers but the guy to took it
    over was a financier and he took it into bankruptcy in 1994
    to get his money back. Doing so he killed a good but simple
    GUI Interface though you can get some Amigas today, paying as
    alway a premium, as well as emulators for Window and Linux.
    But I learned enough about computers from AmigaOS to move
    to Linux without much pain but the bean counters have killed
    a lot of great things.

    bliss

    --
    b l i s s - S F 4 e v e r at D S L E x t r e m e dot com

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From D@21:1/5 to Lynn McGuire on Sat Aug 10 11:13:38 2024
    This message is in MIME format. The first part should be readable text,
    while the remaining parts are likely unreadable without MIME-aware tools.

    On Fri, 9 Aug 2024, Lynn McGuire wrote:

    On 8/9/2024 12:29 AM, Gary R. Schmidt wrote:
    On 09/08/2024 10:35, Lynn McGuire wrote:
    [SNIP]>
    Anytime any engineering business names an accountant as the CEO, write it >>> off.  Boeing did so several years ago.  The accountants will drive the >>> costs to zero no matter what happens to the employees.


    Or to the product.

        Cheers,
            Gary    B-)

    True dat. Each is equally damaged.

    Lynn


    This is the truth!

    Another thing I've seen during my career, is that when
    the CEO is sales focused, the companies have prospered, and when the CEO
    is _too technology oriented_, the companies have not done well.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)