This past week, we saw the successful test flights of both Boeing's Starliner and SpaceX's Starship. Despite seemingly going right, small issues occurred that show how difficult and punishing space flight can be. Subscribe now for unlimited access .
$ 0 / (min cost $ 0 ) Login or signup to continue reading Continue with Email Continue with Google Continue with Apple See subscription options Unveiled in 2010, Boeing's Starliner is one of two space vehicles, the other being SpaceX's Crew Dragon, funded by NASA to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station. These are replacements for the Space Shuttle, which was originally envisioned to be a cheap, reusable, and reliable space vehicle, that could go up every couple of weeks. In reality, the Shuttle was very expensive and complicated.
After every re-entry, the heatshield, which protects the inside and rest of the capsule as it re-enters the atmosphere, needed to be painstakingly replaced. It would take months to do this, with each tile going in a specific location, taking months of human effort. A produced image of Starliner in space.
Picture Shutterstock This week's launch of Boeing's Starliner was their sixth attempt at the fourth test launch. The first test was in December 2019, and the capsule successfully launched. However, a software malfunction threw off the internal clock and timing, meaning the capsule didn't do the right maneuvers at the right time, and couldn't reach the space station.
After about 18 months of.
