Also, reminder of this news (posted to news mega at the end of May):
Boeing decided not to fix the helium leak from the Starliner spacecraft before sending the first crew to the ISS
Although the oxygen valve on the Atlas V rocket was replaced, Boeing and NASA decided to launch the Starliner with two astronauts to the ISS without replacing a small seal on the helium supply system in the service compartment. The leak affects only one of the 28 engines used to control the spacecraft's altitude, and is small enough to be dangerous, and taking the ship to the workshop and completely rebuilding it is time-consuming and ineffective. Instead, engineers will monitor the leak before the launch on June 1, and if it does not increase, the launch will go ahead.
This is the FIFTH helium leak they’d gotten so far, and we’re not even at the end of the mission yet.
Seriously I’d rather take the Soyuz (the AK-47 of spacecrafts) if my life ever depends on it than any of these over-engineered crap.
Also, reminder of this news (posted to news mega at the end of May):
Surely nothing would go wrong. Surely.
laissez-faire space travel is working about as well as expected
The Soyuz is by far the most reliable spacecraft in existence. The Soviets really knew how to build em :ussr-cry: