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First SpaceX Mission With Astronauts Set For June 2019 (france24.com)

schwit1 shares a report from France 24: NASA has announced the first crewed flight by a SpaceX rocket to the International Space Station (ISS) is expected to take place in June 2019. It will be the first manned U.S. launch to the orbiting research laboratory since the space shuttle program was retired in 2011, forcing U.S. astronauts to hitch costly rides aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft. A flight on Boeing spacecraft is set to follow in August 2019. The timetable for both launches has already been postponed several times, but NASA said Thursday it would now be providing monthly updates on deadlines. Both missions are considered tests: the two astronauts transported in each flight will spend two weeks aboard the orbiting ISS before returning to Earth. SpaceX will carry out an uncrewed test in January 2019, and Boeing in March 2019.

48 comments

  1. Elon getting high as the space shuttle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Launch date set for 4/20, funding for Doritos and moon pies secured.

  2. Typo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who ever wrote this article spelled corpses wrong.

  3. Alright! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Musk hired competent people to run Space X. Too bad he won't do that for Tesla.

    1. Re:Alright! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can bet your ass if the SEC had thrown Musk out of Tesla for a few years, he'd be destroying SpaceX with micromanagement on a weekly basis and shit-tweeting about Boeing being full of pedos too.

    2. Re:Alright! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's okay, he'll have a lot of time on his hands in February when Tesla files for bankruptcy.

  4. Re:And it will end TRAGICALLY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The ball of fire is the habanero farts that pollute your efficiency apartment. But I agree you do know your shit, runny as it is.

  5. Re:And it will end TRAGICALLY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Since there was alleged sabotage of a soyuz, Russia will try to sabotage Crew Dragon, Trump will allow it.

  6. Re: And it will end TRAGICALLY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Gonna blow right the fuck up, yeah buddy, Elon gonna spark a big ass blunt from the fireball and catch a truly righteous buzz.

  7. Grab some popcorn by marcle · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Boeing doesn't play fair, and they would just hate to be upstaged by an upstart, when they've gotten fat off of sucking the federal tit forever.
    Expect some unexpected developments, either in the media or on some legislative subcommittee or both, to try to slow Elon down.

    1. Re:Grab some popcorn by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Expect some unexpected developments, either in the media or on some legislative subcommittee or both, to try to slow Elon down.

      Yup. That's how they got the KC-46 contract. The military rejected their crappy overpriced plane, so Boeing went whining to Congress, and the USAF was forced to accept it. Lemon socialism at its worst.

    2. Re:Grab some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      First, they protested the award to Northrop Grumman/EADS to the GAO, not Congress. Second, they did so during Bush's reign. The GAO found the protest valid. When the recompete finally came around, the Northrop Grumman/EADS partnership broke up and EADS went it alone. Then the Boeing, the US company, won the contract.

      The original was likely awarded to Northrop Grumman as a means of trying to help them stay afloat. The DoD often gives contracts with consideration of trying to keep the defense base afloat.

    3. Re:Grab some popcorn by commodore64_love · · Score: 2

      I always heard the phrase "crony capitalism" where bribes to politicians ensure financial assistance or protectionism for a company.

      But "lemon socialism" is an even better term! :-)

      .

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    4. Re:Grab some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Indeed. The answer to Lemon socialism is...[checks notes]...more efficient Lemon socialism.

    5. Re:Grab some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ironically, as a socialist the term "lemon socialism" makes me kind bitter.

      Diverting public funds to failing private enterprise is almost the exact opposite of socialism. Of course, the people it is used as a pejorative against would view being the recipients of socialism as highly offensive, so I'll make my peace with it :-)

    6. Re:Grab some popcorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the original contract was NOT given to Boeing because they had just faced an investigation into corruption and bribery. Boeing successfully argued that, despite their past bad actions, their plane was superior.

    7. Re:Grab some popcorn by Agripa · · Score: 1

      Boeing doesn't play fair, and they would just hate to be upstaged by an upstart, when they've gotten fat off of sucking the federal tit forever.
      Expect some unexpected developments, either in the media or on some legislative subcommittee or both, to try to slow Elon down.

      Range safety is very important.

  8. Re:In space, no one can hear you rape by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You mad bro?

    :)

  9. Re:Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    I'm so happy for you! The rest of us not so much.

  10. Re:But this is different by wolfheart111 · · Score: 2

    They are Finally seeing there's something better than money.

    --
    [($)]
  11. Re:But this is different by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    they could just bash elon and short sell tesla stock, ya know.. like everybody else does.

  12. Re: With out man-rated vehicle, I don't think so by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    SpaceX engineering is scarry sloppy, but they've hit the target orbit within a tolerable margin about half the time.

  13. Re: RAPE A CONSERVATIVE TODAY, THEY FUCKING LOVE I by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You sound unhinged, comrade. Babushka getting fucked too often in your tin shed?

  14. Re:With out man-rated vehicle, I don't think so by zuckie13 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yet somehow they keep delivering stuff to the ISS? That's their rocket, and their vehicle. If they are as bad as you say the NOBODY would be flying their satellites on them. I'd love to see your source.......cause I actually work in the industry, and directly support their flights to ISS.

  15. Re: With out man-rated vehicle, I don't think so by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nobody ever has hit a target without using spacecraft GNC after. Keep on your unicorn hunt, you'll never find one.

  16. Re:With out man-rated vehicle, I don't think so by Michael+Woodhams · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The Dragon capsule is no where near being man-rated, so the changes of actually flying with a human is ZERO right now.

    says someone commenting on an article about the timetable for crew-rating the Dragon capsule in the near future.

    Here are some articles about the crew-rating of Dragon and Starliner:

    https://www.nasaspaceflight.co...
    https://www.nasaspaceflight.co...

    --
    Quattuor res in hoc mundo sanctae sunt: libri, liberi, libertas et liberalitas.
  17. Re:With out man-rated vehicle, I don't think so by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 1

    They can't even fly a satellite to the right orbit (FACT: They have NEVER achieved target orbit in any flight ... relying on the spacecraft GNC to complete the flight)

    Pretty sure that that's not true.

    Though if it were true, it's no longer true, since I just watched a SpaceX launch that put the satellite into the target orbit....

    --

    "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
  18. Re:With out man-rated vehicle, I don't think so by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you put the tolerances tight enough then I expect no one ever achieved target orbit on a launch.

  19. Re:With out man-rated vehicle, I don't think so by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It is normal for a GEO satellite to burn itself out of GTO from the second stage. Otherwise you would have a second stage stuck in GEO or a near-GEO orbit!

  20. Re:With out man-rated vehicle, I don't think so by religionofpeas · · Score: 1

    Also the Dragon capsule has its own thrusters and guidance system to make the necessary orbital adjustments to dock with ISS, so there's no problem.

  21. Re:With out man-rated vehicle, I don't think so by Megane · · Score: 1

    Hmm, yes, at least SpaceX isn't having test-stand accidents that end with hydrazine spilled all over the place.

    --
    #naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
  22. Re:But this is different by bobbied · · Score: 1

    All he need do is build cars and meet production goals, that will fix the stock price.

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  23. Re:With out man-rated vehicle, I don't think so by bobbied · · Score: 1

    The Dragon capsule is no where near being man-rated, so the changes of actually flying with a human is ZERO right now.

    Come on... Musk has his Gnatt chart that clearly shows he can hit that deadline... Never mind there is zero slack for mistakes or schedule slippages and zero tolerance for the unknown unknowns that always popup in complex engineering projects..

    Business folks do this kind of projecting all the time. They sit down, assume nothing goes wrong, takes longer than estimated, or unforeseen problems pop up on the critical path and declare the end date certain when their engineers have a list of major risks a mile long and give them a zero chance of meeting that date. But the date is what the shareholders get to hear.

    I've been involved in such project planning with business folks who where obsessed with stock price and performance. One time I gave them my gut estimate on the date and they beat me up for being uncooperative, demanding I shave 6 months off the 18 that I quoted. "What if nothing goes wrong, when can you deliver?" was the question. I made the mistake of agreeing to the year based on "nothing going wrong". Of course, stuff went wrong. We finished within a week of my original estimate.

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  24. Re:With out man-rated vehicle, I don't think so by religionofpeas · · Score: 1

    A deadline based on the idea that nothing goes wrong is a good strategy. Obviously, things will go wrong, and you'll slip. But if you had put in sufficient slack right from the start, people would use up the slack, and then still hit problems.

    Even shorter deadlines are counterproductive, because if prospects are completely hopeless, people start giving up. You want to give the engineers just enough hope that they can do it.

  25. Re:With out man-rated vehicle, I don't think so by bobbied · · Score: 1

    PHB alert..

    Oh I get that, and we tried to meet their required dates, though within a month we had already slipped almost a month. You see the problem was, it will take as long as it takes. No amount of hurrying will fix that working longer each day only helps for a week or two and nothing good happens when the team is tired. It was during that project that I started managing risks aggressively though and I started publishing the probability we could meet the various milestones based on a list of risks. Management didn't care all that much and did their usual "throw resources at the problem" thing. However, when all was said and done, I expected to get fired for missing the dates, but what happened is my manager got canned for not listening to me in the first place. Why? Because, I had documented EVERY conversation, saved EVERY E-mail, and could prove that from the agreed to conditions for my schedule where not true and that the slippages where not due to my team not being ready. My PHB would have gladly tossed me under the bus, as I had directly opposed his decision to accept an unreasonable delivery schedule, but could prove I did my level best to meet it, knowing it would fail.

    I would suggest that management that doesn't listen to their engineering staff, but just imposes a schedule based on the company's financial reporting schedule is acting stupidly. In my case, the delivery date was driven by the company's fiscal year, not engineering reality. This was the height of stupidity in my view and they should have accepted my 18 month schedule. We would have not had to miss revenue targets while working OT and doing system integration in front of the customer in country. It was a death march project.

    Curious, I found a book afterwards called "Death March Projects" which I suggest engineers read.

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  26. Re: With out man-rated vehicle, I don't think so by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah, anyone with "scary sloppy" engineering can land 14 story rockets with disturbing reliability, operate the current heaviest payload capacity launcher, be well on their way to regular reuse of their first stage and have a launch reliability of ~96% and increasing. All of this of course and having the lowest cost per kg of any launch company out there.

  27. Russian Trolls by Areyoukiddingme · · Score: 1

    Of all the articles on Slashdot, this one really WILL attract FUD from Russian trolls. It's Russia that is losing their NASA contract for ferrying US astronauts to the space station when SpaceX (and eventually Boeing) can do it.

    The Trump administration had better invent some bullshit reason for continuing to funnel money to Roscosmos or a bunch of maintenance guys who know how to cobble together an ICBM out of spare parts are going to be out of a job.