I was stationed on a small island in the military and a service member transferring in had found out there was only one tow truck company. He brought one with him on the ferry and within a week the CO had called him in and said he would not be able to operate the tow truck. There was no uprising over this outrage against capitalism. The people on the island all knew the tow truck guy and were satisfied he was not ripping them off. They did not want him to lose his business because of some military guy with a part-time gig. So there are always two sides. If you are competing against someone who is being subsidized by the government in some way, it is not "fair." If you are all subsidized by the government in some way, it is less unfair. If someone is saying it is unfair while also being subsidized...it is a scam. Think about it.

You make a good point. By all realistic accounts, SpaceX has been performing admirably as the sole provider of human transport to space for NASA, and they don't want to mess that up.

That said, there is great value in redundancy for any apllication.

The "by all realistic accounts" is the fiction. SpaceX does not let anyone look at their books. Enron was revolutionizing the energy industry "by all realistic accounts."

Not impressed with Musk as a human being. Far less impressed with his legion of rabid libertarian fanboys. Those issues set aside, I don't like the P.R. game the company plays. I do not think the rocket or the capsule are very good designs for several reasons. And I think LEO is a dead end, and what spacex is doing with starlink is bad for space exploration.

Just my opinion and when I express that here I am personally attacked and viciously harassed. And you know that is true, because you are one of the worst ones.

What are your problems with SpaceX launcher (Falcon 9?) and capsule?
They seem to be doing a sterling job.

F9 has too many engines in the first stage. This makes it needlessly complicated and increases risk. It expends it's upper stage engine while the space shuttle only expended a tank. So the hype that it was such a great leap forward is a lie. The "toxic dragon" is loaded with over a ton and a half of hypergolics which makes it's abort system the main danger to the crew when it is supposed to be the opposite. It needs to have the abort system replaced with an escape tower. Of course, the fanboys completely deny all of this so expect to see at least a half a dozen long bloviating replies to this comment explaining all the great "advantages" of these faults.

Number of successful flights surely means your engine criticism is unfounded. I guess Dragon designers reckon its abort system is a cleaner solution than the old tower design.

I guess you know better than me. Have a great day. For anybody suspicious of your use of the word "cleaner":
https://iceonthemoon.org/20...

SpaceX does not let anyone look at their books.

I'm kinda violating my pledge here, since you didn't post to me, but I feel like I should make a point of gentle correction on this narrow point: NASA is required, by contract terms, to have extensive access to its launch providers' financials under both the LSP program and its contacts for ISS and Artemis; and there are not dissimilar provisions for the Space Force as part of SpaceX's contracts for the NSSL program.

So, while we, the public, do not get to see SpaceX's financials (it being a closely held corp), its contracting federal agencies do get to see a good deal of them. They need to, in order to be sure that their contractors are solvent enough to execute on their contracts.

NASA has been under the influence of it's invisible psuedo assistant director for many years. Having also made so many wrong turns it is actually not NASA I am inferring should be the oversight for spacex. It is the people who are specifically tasked with oversight that should be the ones, and the public, who is paying for it, should also know what truth there is to the spacex glorious claims of miraculous thrift and gains with reusability.

"SpaceX does not let anyone look at their books..."

How well or poorly SpaceX is performing on their contracts to transport astronauts to and from space is public record.

NASA is very satisfied with the results they are getting from their single provider, just as your base CO was satisfied with the services from the single towing provider. SpaceX's profit and loss statements are as irrelevant to that performance evaluation as are the books of the tow truck driver which also were likely to have been private.

You are either not paying attention or being evasive. Or both. It was not the CO who really decided the matter, it was the civilians on the island.

The Space Shuttle was "performing admirably" till Challenger. And it is tax dollars flying those astronauts. Not irrelevant.

Boeing retired the guy in charge of commercial crew Vollmer

Boeing Starliner chief to retire, but staying on through next flight test

https://www.floridatoday.co...

Time for you to do some fishing with the grandkids..

They should’ve sent him packing in 2019

Wow,
if Rogozin will manage to cancel ISS by 2024 Boeing may not get chance to fly any operational missions to ISS.

Today, he banned Matthias Maurer (ESA astronaut currently on Expedition 66/67) from coming over to the German experiments on Nauka and having any access to them. "Roscosmos will not cooperate with Germany on joint experiments on the Russian segment of the ISS."

I'm wondering now if the ISS relationship will last until summer, not 2024!

Uh oh!

I think the relationship is already dead, but the station will continue.

Are they building additional Dragon 2 capsules? Their going to be really busy, turn around isn't as fast refurbishing the capsules vs boosters.

The plan is to have 4 total crew versions, and (so far) 3 for cargo. Three of the four crew versions are already in service (Endeavour, Resilience, Endurance). The fourth is under construction.

They were supposed to build more due to the extension. The capsules are supposed have a life of 5 uses before retirement.

Either case, Starliner capsule if successful will be flying people by next year. If they got enough engines to launch it. I read they only plan to use two capsules for their program.

Just an addendum, the fourth Crew Dragon 2 capsule is complete and is in processing at the Cape, it is going to be used on the Crew-4 launch in April.

Wow. They're moving fast. I thought #4 wasn't going to be used until the fall.

Hope a non-NASA, non professional person (or perhaps someone from Rocket Lab, who seems to have the flair) gets to name the fourth, cause so far…

Hoping for Constancy or Absolution for the next one.

You're holding out for Rockety McRocketface, aren't you?

Rocket Raccoon. How can you resist?

Rocket J. Squirrel

:D Something like that. They already showed us that it is possible to outperform and still retain a sense of humor. In SpaceX names we get mischief (Miss Chief), mystery (Miss Tree) and sometimes whole sentences. Having started out with birds of prey and mythical creatures, why break a winning streak!

I'd like to see one named after an actual dragon, unfortunately most dragons aren't the most positive creatures, maybe Kukulkan, or Falkor

Kukulkan was the god of creation, the sire of both the Morning and Evening Star, the protector the craftsmen, the rain-maker, the wind-blower and also the fire-bringer. Interestingly, both the Mayans and the Aztecs were not too keen on solar eclipses (given the sacredness of the sun), as such their mythic traditions used to depict such rare scenarios with the Earth Serpent swallowing the great Quetzalcoatl. Furthermore, as opposed to their cultural penchant for human sacrifices, Kukulkan was supposedly not fond of such bloodthirsty practices.

https://www.realmofhistory....

Parthenax.

I'd like to see one named after an actual dragon

Smaug it is.

That was my initial thought but the environmentalists would probably object when they heard SpaceX was launching smog into space 🙄

Sisu!

What I'm really waiting for is a manned Starship so we can finally have a Starship Enterprise 😍
Maybe SpaceX will be able to give Patrick Stewart a ride as honorary Captain, take that Bezos😉

aren't we all?

"NASA issued a $776 million modification for the contract Feb. 28 for the three flights, bringing the total value of the contract to $3.51 billion."

Unfortunately, the best course of action is to deorbit the ISS and focus on the Moon. Immediately.

Where to send the toxic dragon if there is no ISS? Just billionaut tourist trips?

They will quickly run out of uber-rich adventurers when it becomes common knowledge that vomiting while floating in a radiation bath is the adventure. After a few get their faux astronaut wings the novelty will fade.

Agree. Ditch the ISS and also the SLS. Both are unsustainable money pits of dubious value. The $7 billion annual savings can then be utilized on a more reasonable and cost effective lunar exploration architecture.

"At this point I'm not wishing health or long life for any Democrat. They are evil.".

I don't agree with you on anything on principle. It is disturbing interacting with libertarians that want to dissolve the federal government. Crazy, stupid, dangerous.

Ah, yes the theory that the Federal government can do no wrong. Much more crazy, stupid and dangerous than anything I write. The SLS is just another example of an out of control Federal government not responsive to the citizens it purports to represent.

Since you didn't respond to my actual reply to your comment, I can only assume that you realize the SLS is an unsustainable money pit of dubious valve but are otherwise fully supportive of this corrupt project.

By the downvote, I am taking my question as being answered in the affirmative. Good luck with Moby Elon!

Ahab, is that you?

https://twitter.com/GirkinG...

We don't get a good view of Mriya but from what I see she doesn't look good.

FYI: The vehicles with the V are Chechen mercs.

That round white/yellow/blue thing is the nose. If we can see that...well, we should be seeing more.

Mriya is the no longer a concern to me. Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is.

https://twitter.com/Caucasu...

Well at least that seems to be over for now
https://www.thedrive.com/th...
Hopefully the Russians can restrain themselves from creating another Chernobyl.

Boeing Gets Caught in a Bind as U.S. Bans Giant Russian Cargo Jets
https://www.bloomberg.com/n...

I wonder if they can use their Dreamlifter cargo plane instead for a bit? It might however be a length issue.

Antonov 225 is now that big pile of smouldering debris in the hanger with the arched roof.
See above image.