Did Bugatti actually tool up injection molds for 12 cars? The molds for that can run into the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. Yeah, I know they’re selling $26 million of cars, but still, for such a small item? A lot of low-production cars use lighting units borrowed from other cars, as Jalopnik itself has…

“Comes from money,” but doesn’t have a card?

Boeing is still on the hook for the contracted Commercial Crew flights. If they don’t deliver, they don’t receive the contracted amounts. So they’re highly incentivized to complete their contractual obligations.

It is important to point out that this was done under an entirely different contract. SpaceX and Orbital Sciences were awarded Commercial Resupply contracts under an earlier program. This did give SpaceX a valuable leg up on their competition, and is one of the reasons that they bid less on the Commercial Crew…

In addition to other comments, it should also be noted that one of the reasons why the SpaceX award was smaller than the Boeing one SpaceX started with a sort of existing prototype, the Cargo Dragon. This would simplify their development process. Boeing was starting entirely from scratch with Starliner.

Checked - it looks like the only time that they did a spacewalk on Soyuz was Soyuz 5-4, and they used one of the modules of two docked Soyuz spacecraft as a sort of airlock.

Mentioned Gemini elsewhere. Actually, the Alexei Leonov’s Voskhod EVA used an inflatable airlock, and it almost killed him. He couldn’t get back into it, and he had to partially deflate his spacesuit (!) to get back in. Steely eyed missile man. I didn’t know what standard practice on Soyuz EVAs were (or if there were…

It’s all about the partial pressure of oxygen. The Apollo 1 mission I referred to had pure oxygen at > 16 psia bsolute on the pad, to keep a slight outward pressure on the hatch and seals at sea level 14.7 psi. In the normal atmosphere, oxygen is about 3 psi partial pressure. The idea was that they were going to bleed…

Shuttle and Space Stations have been using airlocks, and for a large vehicle or space station, it’s the preferred method, but the method they are using is in general concordance with how it was done in Gemini and Apollo.

On the Apollo 8 mission, Bill Anders was damned if he was going to use the solid waste collection system, which consisted of taping a plastic bag to your backside, then assisting the fecal matter out with your hands, all while in a very confined space with your two crewmates. Between a “low residue” diet (foods like…

I’ve discussed how this is inaccurate elsewhere, but I heard an interview of the designer for the life support systems for SLS, and they talked about the contingency of needing to leave the astronauts in the spacesuit for several days to get home if they have an ECS failure or depressurization. One of the biggest…

Yeah, I think that’s probably the main reason their entire technical staff hasn’t left.

The reporting here is very inaccurate. Here’s a more accurate article. I also explain elsewhere in the comments how this is pretty similar to the procedures used in Gemini and Apollo missions.

The reporting here is very inaccurate. Here’s a more accurate article.

The reporting here is very inaccurate. Here’s a more accurate article.

Wait until you hear how they did this stuff in Apollo, only 100 times further away from the earth! This is being reported very poorly. Here’s much better reporting of the process that is going to be used.

It’s not two days in a spacesuit.

I’m as much of a Musk hater as the next rational human being, but there’s a lot being reported incorrectly here. The astronauts will not be in their suits for the whole, or even most of the 45 hours. They’re converting from a more-or-less sea level atmosphere of mostly nitrogen and some oxygen at sea level pressure to…

It’s not just numbers. Fewer R&S Mk IIIs were built (22 Mk IIIs and 5 Mk IIICs) than 333SPs (41), and a greater percentage of them were raced in IMSA or Le Mans. And, just picking a race (Daytona 24), R&S Mk III won 3 times, whereas the 333SP won only once. Racingsportscars.com lists 49 victories for the 333SP, and 46…

The 333SP surprised me. I’m sure you can pick up a Riley & Scott Mk III, a car that frequently beat it in head-to-head competition, for about a tenth as much. Of course, it doesn’t have a little prancey horse on it.