A “Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round” or SpaceX to the Rescue?  

“I fought like Hell to stop that launch…We all knew if the seals failed the shuttle would blow up.” – Roger Boisjoly

Boe-Lock, remember my words at Space Defense Command last summer? “Sky ramblers, Heed thy ship Lock not or fails in its launch, 3, 2, 1, 0… ҉”

Bill Nelson, you’re dead wrong! You say, “Morton Thoikol’s…information never got up…NASA ever since has tried very hard to bring about an atmosphere in which people are encouraged to speak their mind.”

Roger Boisjoly and Morton Thiokol did ‘speak their mind.” Challenger, how did it really go down?  

In a February 6, 2012 interview with Howard Berkes from NPR, Roger Boisjoly stated “We were talking to the right people,” he said. “We were talking to the people who had the power to stop that launch.”

Berkes reports, “Roger Boisjoly was a booster rocket engineer at NASA contractor Morton Thiokol in Utah in January, 1986 when he and four colleagues became embroiled in the fatal decision to launch the Space Shuttle Challenger.”  

In fact, “At first, Thiokol managers agreed with them and formally recommended a launch delay. But NASA officials on a conference call challenged that recommendation.”

Nelson, not simply about cold weather.  

Boisjoly “found disturbing the data he reviewed about the booster rockets. The problem, Boisjoly wrote, was the elastic seals at the joints of the multi-stage booster rockets. They tended to stiffen and unseal in cold weather and NASA’s ambitious shuttle launch schedule included winter lift-offs with risky temperatures, even in Florida.”

Focus now needs to be on Starliner’s crew re-entry. Recall the crumbling of Space Shuttle Columbia as it reentered earth’s atmosphere on February 1, 2003?

Question is why did NASA take so long to decide on Starliner’s crew ‘no go’? Nelson, were you really ‘between a rock and a hard place.’ BTW, wasn’t it Joe who nominated you for the job?

Nelson says “Politics has not played any part in this decision.” But it’s Election Year Senator. “Absolutely has nothing to do with” said Nelson.

Seems you got an answer for everything. Easy to switch hats from Administrator to Senator to Lawyer?

NASA, how can the American people trust you when your Administrator fed them these lines, “Our commitment to safety. Our core value is safety. And it is our north star.” This ‘commitment’ word is popular amongst Corporate Executives and Politicians.

What about PRIORITY IS SAFETY?

In an Arstechnica August 15, 2024 article, “NASA acknowledges it cannot quantify risk of Starliner propulsion issues.” Hmm, just five days before the Democratic National Convention.

Yet, “On August 2, Boeing had said it “remains confident in the Starliner spacecraft and its ability to return safely with crew.” NASA officials haven’t expressed the same confidence.”

Days later, “We still believe in Starliner’s capability…” Boeing said in an Aug. 7 statement.” 

Boeing, did you really believe or, did you know you’d lost billions?   

U.S. & Overseas Contracts and ‘Fair’ Space Race Competition

Boe, looks like you’ve had a busy month.

On Aug 9^th you were “awarded a $2.56 billion contract from the U.S. Air Force for two rapid prototype E-7A AEW&C Wedgetail aircraft.”On Aug 13^th “PolandSigns LOA for 96 Boeing AH-64E Apache Helicopters.” On Aug 15^th you secured anEL AL Israel Airlines Agreement for up to 31 Boeing 737 MAX Jets. Finally, On Aug 20^th you made a run ‘down under’ for an investment in Australian SAF Production.”

Sure, month isn’t over.

My words in May: Appears your bird not only has a vulnerability and speed problem. But data and parts dilemma. And what may be on your mind and two NASA astronauts is this thing about ‘Russia’s Nuclear Space Weapon.’

Right, something about “X-Ray threat 100 miles’ rendering ‘low earth orbit unusable for a length of time.’  So if your big bird gets another leak or systems failure you can blame the Ruskies! 🙂  

Robert Lightfoot, President of Lockheed Martin Space said in July, “Don’t see as a race.” With the Ruskies or SpaceX? But is it really a fair space race if your ‘competitor’ calls you out on ‘anti-trust grounds’?

Lightfoot, recall when the “FTC gives clearance to United Launch Alliance”? According to Space Flight Now, “Lockheed Martin today confirmed that United Launch Alliance, L.L.C. (ULA), its joint venture with the Boeing Co., had received anti-trust clearance from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).”

FTC, national security appears to trump competition. What competition?

A “Dead Heat Reduction” is what you’ll have if SpaceX returns crew Starliner launched. Of course, ‘fixed contract with NASA’ may bar Boe from collecting half. Deal was to launch and return crew.

Remember, though, this ULA is a “50-50 joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.” Only fair to have included you both in Starliner decision.

But Boe-Lock, you didn’t show up on Saturday, Aug 24^th. Right, gotta make up for reported loss of $4.2 Billion by selling commercial aircraft to US Army and Air Force.  So guys, really, why the no show?

One possibility is bad rap of outsourcing to contractors. ULA reportedly “subcontracts out the production of rocket engines and solid rocket boosters.” Boe, so other than launch, all you do is draw up plans, assemble parts and sales?

Best you ‘go back to the drawing board’ and ‘thrust’ out new designs! Blueprints appear to have been accessed and vessel compromised!

Russia, unlike a ‘make believe’ arrival of a Premier of the Soviet Union at LAX, are you ready to depart ISS?

Boe-Lock, still licking your wounds? Oh right, ‘joy riding’ is yet delayed another year. You see, unlike your commercial war machines, space travel is ROCKET SCIENCE, something you two know very little of.

“A technical problem demands a technical solution.” Jacques Ellul, The Technological Society, 1964.

2025: Year of the Snake, not Dragon

SpaceX, when you launched Falcon 9 rocket in June for NRO, I suggested you do a Recovery fly-by and pick up crew from Starliner unable to get back to earth. Negative, port full.

But Elon, February 2025 will be the year of the Snake, not Dragon.

Boe-Lock, Elon’s rocket is reportedly priced at $69.75 million, so be ready to pay SpaceX and Northrop Grumman! BTW, Northrop, didn’t you buy what was left of contractor Morton Thiokol, Orbital ATK in 2018?

Right, the same company NASA contracted for the Space Shuttle Challenger.

SpaceX, heard from Space Flight Now you had “first in-flight failure of a Falcon 9 rocket since 2015.” What went wrong?

Falcon appears to have had a similar problem as Starliner, “suspect thrusters and helium leaks.” And “during the burn of the Falcon 9’s second stage an unusual amount of ice was seen building up around the Merlin Vacuum engine.”

Speaking of ice, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon set to return Starliner crew in February. Hmm, how cold is it that time of year in Florida?

Of course, if the Dragon encounters problem or blows, Boeing can say ‘out of our hands,’ NASAs decision. Hmm, ‘probabilistic risk analysis’ or plausible deniability?

What say the Astronauts? According to Joe Acaba, chief of NASA’s astronaut corps, “I’ve spoken quite a bit with Butch and Suni,” Acaba said. “I do ask for their opinion, but… they will do what we ask them to do, and that’s their job as astronauts.” In other words, their lives are in your hands?

Sure Joe, but a ‘red flag’ went up when you reportedly said, “the Starliner astronauts were aware of the risks and uncertainties associated with a test flight of a new spacecraft.”

Gotta tell you Joe, sounds a lot like a CMA line. Wonder when Jim and Bill will spill out their ‘cover my ass’ lines.

Boe, if Starliner blows in its return, you’re screwed. Brand image: ‘Star lost in space!’ NASA, good luck getting another crew to do what you ask them to do.

Anyway you cut it boys, NASA, Boe-Lock, and SpaceX, blood will be on ALL you boy’s hands if decision backfires and SpaceX fails.

More bad news. Heard last week that “NASA Has Some Bad News for Its Stranded Astronauts.”  Jeffrey Kluger from TIME points out.

“You wouldn’t get on a plane if your probability of not making it home alive was 1 in 270. Those odds, however, are what NASA considers an acceptable LOC—or loss of crew—projection for a 210-day stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS).”

NASA, we’ve been here before. Kluger says it best:

“Challenger launched during a Florida freeze—contributing to its foreseeable explosion—and Columbia was flown home when it was not fit to reenter the atmosphere. A rescue shuttle might have helped save that crew.”

According to Adam Higginbotham, author of Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space, in a May 29, 2024 interview discussed the 1986 space shuttle Challenger disaster:

“Boeing and SpaceX have contracts with NASA where the charts of catastrophe cannot be any greater than 1 in 276.”  Higginbotham calls it a ‘normalization of deviance’ where “you’ve got a revolver with one bullet in the chamber, spin and it doesn’t go off.”

Or, what I and the Russians call, ‘Russian Roulette’.

Michael Grunwald asks Higginbotham, “Did we need a space shuttle then?”

Higginbotham responds, “We did not really need a space shuttle then. It was created essentially to keep NASA in the business of manned space flight and was the rump of much more complex program that Congress made very clear from the beginning that they couldn’t afford to pay for.”

In Saturday’s update of crew’s return, NASAs Bowersox was asked by the news outlet ABC, “Why NASA chose SpaceX to bring Sunny and Butch home?” His response: “provide some competition, competition is healthy.”

Really, compete with SpaceX? Boe reportedly can’t even recertify its MAX on the ground. But it’s hell bent on selling its ‘joyriding’ merry-go-round from Florida Park to ISS to millionaire spacenuts! 

Gas guzzlers? Boeing’s investment in the Aussies appears to be a matter of ‘optics’. ‘Wagner refinery is part of its strategy to support development of local SAF supply…to decarbonize aviation by 2050.”

2050? Boe, what makes you think you’ll be around? TWA, along with “their prized new 707-331B fanjets the “StarStream” Intercontinental,” are both GONE!

Hey, how about donating the Starliner to the Aussies as an American actor is said to have done with his Boeing StarStream?

Let me remind you, “Time is on my side, yes it is.”

My Space Defense Command has considered what a former NASA Astronaut Colonel Frank Borman sees as three ingredients when pursuing missions: “Goal, $, and support of the country. Otherwise, you’re just there to “collect rocks.”

Boe-Lock, speaking of rocks or stones, song line was dedicated to Rio and Bhp. A “Pink Floyd” opening line, “One of these days, I’m going to cut you into little pieces.” But for you that day has come.

Brace yourself, if Starliner is anything like Challenger or Columbia, there may not be much left of your company. Founder builds it, son develops it, and the SOB grandson wrecks it to the ground!

Heard of “The Rolling Stones”?

Boe-Lock, Gentlemen, do you have any “Sympathy for the Devil”?

“Pleased to meet you

Hope you guess my name, oh yeah

But what’s puzzling you

Is the nature of my game”

NASA, will you decide to “Use all your well learned politics, Or I’ll lay your soul to waste”?

“What’s my name?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

†John Barnett, Roger Boisjoly, Crew on Space Shuttle Challenger and Space Shuttle Columbia, May you Rest in Peace 

*“Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round” is the title of a 1966 crime film written and directed by Bernard Girard