NASA already released the explanation: it was feedback on the inter-spacecraft communications channel connecting all the spacecraft up there. Noises like that do crop up from time to time on various spacecraft connected into the audio loop, because there are a lot of different spacecraft and other equipment up there.…

If a smartphone screen isn’t optimal for a passenger to choose a song to listen to, or read the next direction on a navigator (your own examples of things a passenger would use their screen for), then they probably need to visit an optometrist — and if you’re suggesting that automakers are intending to provide…

He’s got Gwynne Shotwell keeping SpaceX in order. At Twitter, of course, he’s the sole head honcho, so we get to see the absolute unvarnished pinnacle of his business acumen at work there.

Of all of those things, about the only one that isn’t entirely duplicated by the smartphone the passenger almost certainly already has and is using, is the passenger side environmental controls. And those have existed in many cars for about twenty years, even without touchscreens. I don’t see those even needing the…

If any of those kid’s phones had GPS tracker apps, there will even be easily reviewed data for a subsequent lawsuit.....

I am jealous. We do not have A/C on our school buses here. But this is Minnesota, and for most of the school year it’s not a big deal. Heaters, on the other hand, those are mandatory.

On a slightly related note, Randall Munroe brings us his take on the situation today, and his XKCD perspective is, of course, a little different....

EVAs without detailed rehearsals in the NBL are actually pretty common nowadays. That’s mostly down to the nature of Station operations. They’re no longer assembling it, carrying out complex, highly orchestrated operations on a tight timetable. Instead, they’re in a maintenance mode, so while some EVAs are expected…

Yeah, that chestnut gets trotted out a lot. It’s risky, to be sure, but not as risky as people think. It’s not “instant DEATH!!!!” It’s mostly an elevated cancer risk.

Two Starliner missions (OFT-1 and OFT-2) have already survived reentry; I don’t see any new reason to worry about that part.

Extra bonus!

It’s broadly like removing the transmission from a Waymo, putting the parts into the Waymo’s passenger seat, and then asking it to drive to the nearest service station to find out what’s wrong. While Starliner has a lot of redundancy in the thrusters, the system is all interconnected. I doubt you could remove the…

As far as the last paragraph goes, I think the people you should be least concerned about are Williams and Wilmore, although I’m sure they’re very frustrated about not being able to complete their mission. They had additional maneuvers they were going to perform post-undocking, and now they will never get to do those.…

Oh, it would be so nice if they could do that. And if they could, Boeing would go for it in a heartbeat, actually. NASA would be ordering them to right now. Unfortunately, it’s not an option, for several reasons.

The lower pressure does indeed make it safer. What your lungs require (and what affects fire risk) is not the absolute pressure of the air but the partial pressure of the oxygen. At sea level, that’s roughly 5 PSI.  What you need to live, and what causes fire risk, really doesn’t change much depending on how much…

OK, that makes a lot more sense. Thank you! They’re just going closer to an Apollo capsule environment prior to the EVA.

45 hours???? At first, I didn’t think this was so crazy. I mean, this is how the Gemini and Apollo spacewalks were done. (Including the batshit crazy spacewalk during the transearth cruise to retrieve film canisters from the Apollo service module. I mean, intellectually, I know it was really no more deadly than any of…

Well, it’s not exactly SOP, since SOP is to avoid this situation if at all possible. NASA has tried very hard to avoid a shirtsleeves return for a long time. But I do agree that’s probably what they’ll have to resort to, since I believe the Dragon suits are custom fit.

That’s not the problem. The suits most definitely can fit through the hatch. The problem is they’re essentially useless on board Dragon, so there’s really no point bringing them out of Starliner at all. You might as well just go down in shirtsleeves, which is likely what they’ll have to do if they abandon Starliner. Th…

BTW, just a random factoid you might be interested: back when the Commercial Crew contracts were being competed, one of the long-shot contenders was United Space Alliance. They actually did submit a proposal to continue operating the Space Shuttles. The killer (other than the huge operating cost - the program cost…