[QUOTE=sdbardwick;606148]...Frustrating that Boeing has fallen so far.[/QUOTE]

There is a documentary on one of the streaming channels entitled, "The Case Against Boeing." Boeing was always known for its high standards of manufacturing and quality. That is, until the merger with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Somehow, the exec's from M-D managed to push out the exec's of Boeing. The president of M-D became the new president of Boeing. Boeing was to take over M-D. It was actually the reverse.

When that happened, everything at Boeing changed. No longer was it a quality driven company. It because a profit driven company. Many production corners were cut and thousands lost their jobs. The corporate HQ was moved from Seattle to Chicago. Management didn't want to be bugged by engineers with questions any longer.

Major problems with the 737 Max, after two crashes, brought it all out into public view. Pilots with thousands of hours of flight time refused to fly them. A senator from Oregon began a congressional investigation. Top executives from Boeing were called to testify.

The straw that broke the proverbial camel's back was MCAS. Short for Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System. The problem was that pilots had not been told about the addition. Boeing felt it was not necessary to tell them. 737 Max flight manuals made no mention of MCAS other than one item in an alphabetical listing in the very back of the manual.

Boeing was charged with criminal misconduct for misleading regulators but never pleaded guilty to the charges. In the settlement, Boeing paid $2.5-billion with the majority going to airlines and survivors.

Boeing lost their hard earned reputation. This is a permanent stain which will never go away.

[QUOTE=sdbardwick;606148]Maybe avoidance of RUD prior to docking is enough to pass. Hope there are reserve parachutes aboard for the return trip.

Frustrating that Boeing has fallen so far.[/QUOTE]Return trip? I'm more worried about something like the following:[indent][b]The Starliner craft has crashed into ISS. The station and Starliner have been destroyed. All crew lost.[/b][/indent]
The whole point of keeping Boeing on the project is to have more than one way to get astronauts and supplies to the ISS.

A scenario as above would certainly take care of that problem.

[QUOTE=masser;582378]Parker Solar Probe still going strong, by last check. Not a surprise, really, considering the success of previous crafts, like Helios 2.[/QUOTE]

[URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parker_Solar_Probe#Timeline"]Perihelion #12 recently.[/URL] Really, quite the remarkable little mission!

[url=https://www.npr.org/2022/09/03/1120742884/nasa-artemis-1-launch-saturday-time-moon-mission-rocket-orion-sls]NASA won't try to launch the Artemis 1 moon mission again for at least a few weeks[/url][quote]CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA has delayed any new launch attempt for the Artemis moon mission until at least Sept. 19 after scrapping a planned launch on Saturday.

The decision on Saturday morning was the second time in a week the launch had been postponed.
<snip>
The space agency's first effort to launch this rocket had to be scuttled on Monday morning after a sensor indicated that one of the rocket's four engines didn't seem to be cooling down to the proper temperature of approximately minus-420 degrees Fahrenheit.

After studying the problem and troubleshooting, officials said it's clear the engine was actually fine and a sensor was giving a false temperature reading. "We know we had a bad sensor," said John Honeycutt, program manager for this rocket at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

Then on Saturday, as crews worked to fuel up the rocket, they repeatedly detected a liquid hydrogen leak that caused them to stop and start the fueling process several times.

NASA made three unsuccessful attempts to repair the leak before falling so far behind schedule that Blackwell-Thompson ultimately [b]waived[/b] [sic] off the launch.
<snip>[/quote]

From [url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2610tothemoon.html]To the Moon ([b]NOVA[/b])[/url]:[quote]A. TISCHLER: Some of the people in the headquarters referred to Marshall as the Chicago Bridge and Iron Works, and all of their vehicles were very conservatively designed with safety factors that I think were probably excessive by today's standards at least. However, there's one thing that has to be acknowledged. They worked.

NARRATOR: But von Braun's conservative engineering has a down side. His team works slowly, testing their rockets one stage at a time. At this rate, it will be years before the Saturn 5 is ready. Dr. George Mueller, Director of Manned Spaceflight, sees a way to cut the schedule: test the whole rocket at once, an "all-up" test. Von Braun and his team are aghast.
<snip>
NARRATOR: By 1967, rocket and launch complex are ready. On November 9, at 7:00 am, Rocco Petrone's launch team lights the candle.

ROCCO PETRONE: You count up and at 6 seconds roughly you give the first signal to burn.

CONTROLLER: Five, four - we have ignition -

NARRATOR: When the engines all reach correct thrust, the rocket sends a command: "LET ME GO!" The hold-down arms release. The swing arms retract. The Saturn 5 is on its own.

GEO. MUELLER: You could see the triumph in some of our faces when it actually went off properly.

R.SEAMANS: And I was with Werner and some of his team there, and they said, "We just can't believe it, it all worked!"[/quote]

Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin Shepard 1 booster failed shortly after liftoff September 12, 2022.

The capsule escape system worked.

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;613288]Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin Shepard 1 booster failed shortly after liftoff September 12, 2022.[/QUOTE]Spinning up YT now!

Live video from DART (Double Asteroid Redirect Test) in about 50 minutes:
[YOUTUBE]-6Z1E0mW2ag[/YOUTUBE]

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;614238]Live video from DART (Double Asteroid Redirect Test) in about 50 minutes:[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the reminder. Now streaming. 29 minutes before the stream goes live...

The game of Pool can be almost as much fun as the game of Go. 8^)

[QUOTE=chalsall;614240]The game of Pool can be almost as much fun as the game of Go. 8^)[/QUOTE]
This is the second move in a game of Go. The dinosaurs saw the first move.

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;614241]The dinosaurs saw the first move.[/QUOTE]

Allegedly.

It is an amazing time to be alive!
 

The link 'Willy gave is now live. With raw video.

From two different spacecraft some light-seconds away from us.

One is going to crash into a small body orbiting another small body. The other is going to watch this happen.

And... At the same time, a *whole* lotta observations are going to be done in parallel. Over time.

Detecting orbits can take quite a bit of work and time.

Thank the gods we humans can now do this kind of thing.