The New York Times reports that for weeks, NASA has downplayed problems experienced by Starliner, but on Wednesday, NASA officials admitted that the issues might be more serious than first thought and that the astronauts might not return on the Boeing vehicle. “The agency is exploring a backup option for the astronauts, Suni Wiliams and Butch Wilmore, to instead hitch a ride back to Earth on a spacecraft built by Boeing’s competitor SpaceX. The astronauts’ stay in orbit, which was to be as short as eight days, could be extended into next year.”
Full Story (New York Times)
Tag: with SpaceX
Small Launch Companies Work to Carve Out Own Niches to Compete with SpaceX
Space News reports that small launch vehicle developers “are working to carve out niches in a market for smallsat launches that is increasingly dominated by SpaceX’s Transporter rideshare missions.” The Transporter missions, “which fill a Falcon 9 often with more than 100 smallsats, offer per-kilogram prices significantly below dedicated small launch vehicles.” SpaceX has “seen high demand for those missions and announced plans last year for a related line of missions called Bandwagon that will go to mid-inclination orbits.”
Full Story (Space News)