Boeing took a $400M charge in the fourth quarter last year to pay for an uncrewed reflight. Today they announced that they’re going to do it, probably in the fall. Unless something goes very wrong, SpaceX is almost certain to be first. I suspect that the Boeing board is regretting taking on the contract now.
[Update a few minutes later
Eric Berger has the story.
Plus, it considers only the extra $35B that NASA wants for Artemis, while ignoring the money hemorrhaging of SLS.
Dang.
I was hoping for some good news on at least one front. Well, at least they’re getting practice at building them.
[Late-afternoon update]
Here’s the story from Eric Berger.
…with astronaut pee.
Is the pandemic going to delay its next test flight?
It seems fairly low risk to me, at least to Texas, given how far out in the boonies it is. The main issue is the risk of flying there, I’d think. Maybe they should do a road trip.
[Update a few minutes later]
Meanwhile, if you want to fly on Starship, SpaceX has released a Users Guide. I’ll have to check it out.
…looks like it meets the International Docking Standard. It’s a sensible thing to do, even if they don’t currently have permission to dock with ISS.
Good progress in validating an asteroid-deflection code.
I’ll have a lot more confidence when we get out there and establish some ground (so to speak) truth.
Isolation thoughts from Lileks.
[Update a while later]
We went for a drive on Saturday into Manhattan Beach, where the beach (like all LA County beaches) was closed. It was a ghost town, with just a few people walking around, and we could have parked almost anywhere. The most surreal thing was to see The Kettle closed. That restaurant has been 24/7 for decades. They’re not even doing takeout, just shuttered.
I haven’t been watching the series because a) I wasn’t a subscriber, b) I’m not that big a Trek fan and, c) Picard was the worst of all of the Enterprise captains (and don’t pollute my comments section with your garbage opinions to the contrary). But Ed Driscoll has been watching it so you don’t have to, even though they’ve made it available to non-subscribers for isolation.
…has just been awarded a contract to supply the Gateway (assuming the Gateway ever actually exists).