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TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
If the software can't be changed, is there a way for an astronaut to go inside the starliner, depart from the ISS, then hop back to the ISS using an eva suit?
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First although it seems slow remember we are actually talking about objects moving at hundreds of meters a second.
Second Sr. Isaac Newton joins the chat as opening the hatch and jumping out may not seem like much and in Atmosphere with the gravity of earth it’s not but in near vacuum with microgravity that’s going to generate a lot of motion.
Third wearing an EMU in the cabin would be damned near impossible as is. But now you have a timer as the Astronaut is fighting to get to the hatch and on top of it he has the added bulk of a SAFER. The Simplified Aid For EVA Rescue system adds even more bulk to the EMU and could be inadvertently detached. The like the Statue of Liberty Hollywood makes the interiors of space craft larger and docking ports bigger too. The diameter of an actual docking port portal is 31 inches the diameter of an astronaut in and EMU is 29 inches.
Lets just take a moment and consider the amount of time due to separation is such that the astronaut has maybe seconds to get from the couch to the hatch then out if they miss the mark they are screwed because even if they have a SAFER it’s only got so much compressed gas to serve as Delta V.
So what do you do if the clock hits zero and Jeb Kerbin is still in the capsule? If he tries to make it on the SAFER but it’s to far congratulations we now have an astronaut doomed to die in space, something that hasn’t happened since Soyuz 11 the first though to die in EVA.
If the Astronaut doesn’t try then we have six possibilities first NASA and Boeing’s luck turns around they manage to get the Starliner back to ISS and get the Astronaut safely aboard! Yeah not buying it.
Second NASA decides to deorbit the capsule and everything turns out well.
Now the Really bad possibilities. First try and maneuver the Starliner back but if its thrusters fail congratulations we have an astronaut in a stricken space craft that could still be in ISS orbit. Potentially repeating the 1997 M34 Mir collision but with a human aboard. Or it fails a burn and now the Astronaut is trapped in a stricken ship that’s space junk. Maybe it deorbits on its own in an unpredictable trajectory.
Or they Try and Deorbit but Starliner doesn’t work or fails in the burn and again either M34 electric boogaloo or the trajectories on reentry are off and the capsule burns up or is shot off into an unpredictable trajectory.
All of these are Space programs nightmares more scary than anything made by Ridley Scott. I would rather birth a Zenomorph than live out the lost cosmonaut creepypasta…

Frankly the Starliner crew isn’t as bad off as it seems. Because we have Dragon and it’s proven as well as sizable it’s highly unlikely that we will be witnessing the “Nigerian Astronaut” letter made real. They are delayed not abandoned.
 

coolgod

Major
Registered Member
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First although it seems slow remember we are actually talking about objects moving at hundreds of meters a second.
Second Sr. Isaac Newton joins the chat as opening the hatch and jumping out may not seem like much and in Atmosphere with the gravity of earth it’s not but in near vacuum with microgravity that’s going to generate a lot of motion.
Third wearing an EMU in the cabin would be damned near impossible as is. But now you have a timer as the Astronaut is fighting to get to the hatch and on top of it he has the added bulk of a SAFER. The Simplified Aid For EVA Rescue system adds even more bulk to the EMU and could be inadvertently detached. The like the Statue of Liberty Hollywood makes the interiors of space craft larger and docking ports bigger too. The diameter of an actual docking port portal is 31 inches the diameter of an astronaut in and EMU is 29 inches.
Lets just take a moment and consider the amount of time due to separation is such that the astronaut has maybe seconds to get from the couch to the hatch then out if they miss the mark they are screwed because even if they have a SAFER it’s only got so much compressed gas to serve as Delta V.
So what do you do if the clock hits zero and Jeb Kerbin is still in the capsule? If he tries to make it on the SAFER but it’s to far congratulations we now have an astronaut doomed to die in space, something that hasn’t happened since Soyuz 11 the first though to die in EVA.
If the Astronaut doesn’t try then we have six possibilities first NASA and Boeing’s luck turns around they manage to get the Starliner back to ISS and get the Astronaut safely aboard! Yeah not buying it.
Second NASA decides to deorbit the capsule and everything turns out well.
Now the Really bad possibilities. First try and maneuver the Starliner back but if its thrusters fail congratulations we have an astronaut in a stricken space craft that could still be in ISS orbit. Potentially repeating the 1997 M34 Mir collision but with a human aboard. Or it fails a burn and now the Astronaut is trapped in a stricken ship that’s space junk. Maybe it deorbits on its own in an unpredictable trajectory.
Or they Try and Deorbit but Starliner doesn’t work or fails in the burn and again either M34 electric boogaloo or the trajectories on reentry are off and the capsule burns up or is shot off into an unpredictable trajectory.
All of these are Space programs nightmares more scary than anything made by Ridley Scott. I would rather birth a Zenomorph than live out the lost cosmonaut creepypasta…

Frankly the Starliner crew isn’t as bad off as it seems. Because we have Dragon and it’s proven as well as sizable it’s highly unlikely that we will be witnessing the “Nigerian Astronaut” letter made real. They are delayed not abandoned.
Sorry I don't remember much about that film, I was too busy making out in the theatre at that time :p

Departing the ISS should have a very low delta V, if a person can go inside the starliner, there is probably a way to program it to depart the ISS briefly, pause for a long time, then deorbit. The starliner is still taking up a port in the ISS, leaving only one available for the Americans. Letting it stay stuck there might not be a good idea.

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NASA Has Some Bad News for Its Stranded Astronauts​

One week later, at the Aug. 14 press conference, it became clear that NASA might not have nearly as much faith in the new ship’s mettle. Instead, Ken Bowersox, associate administrator of NASA’s space operations mission directorate, announced that before the end of August, NASA will hold a high-level flight readiness review to make a final determination on Starliner’s fate. That compressed schedule is due partly to the limited life of Starliner’s batteries.
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; ever since that six-plus week period elapsed, they have been getting recharged by the station, but there is only so much of that powering up they can take before failing altogether.

“It’s a fairly major decision about whether we’re going to have crew on-board for a Starliner return,” Bowersox said at the press conference. “We’ve got time available before we bring Starliner home and we want to use that time wisely. We're expecting that the data analysis will be ready for a … flight readiness review around the end of next week, potentially beginning of the following week.”
 

gelgoog

Brigadier
Registered Member
These astronauts are NASA's Komarov. Forced to test a doomed capsule by technicians who should know better than risk people's lives like that.
Why did they not just abort the flight when the capsule engines had leaks before the flight started?
 

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
Sorry I don't remember much about that film, I was too busy making out in the theatre at that time :p

Departing the ISS should have a very low delta V, if a person can go inside the starliner, there is probably a way to program it to depart the ISS briefly, pause for a long time, then deorbit. The starliner is still taking up a port in the ISS, leaving only one available for the Americans. Letting it stay stuck there might not be a good idea.

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NASA Has Some Bad News for Its Stranded Astronauts​

They already took a major gamble as it seems Starliner should have been operating in an unmanned mode. Frankly reprogramming and fooling the capsule is the safest option here. The jumping off option just doesn’t work.
 
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