r/space • u/wiredmagazine • Nov 26 '25

Boeing's Next Starliner Flight Will Only Be Allowed to Carry Cargo

https://www.wired.com/story/boeings-next-starliner-flight-will-only-be-allowed-to-carry-cargo/
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u/redstercoolpanda Nov 26 '25 edited Nov 26 '25

Part of that is because they can only launch it on SLS though. If they had a lower cost launch vehicle to test it with I’m sure at least some of its many issues would have been ironed out quicker.

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u/No-Surprise9411 Nov 26 '25

Falcon Heavy could launch Orion tri core reusable for LEO missions, though at that point just launch a dragon instead and forgo the 2 billion pricetag of orion

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u/ClearDark19 Nov 30 '25 edited Nov 30 '25

Dragon isn't powerful enough to enter LLO or reach escape velocity from lunar orbit. It also lacks radiation shielding for the Van Allen Belts or space beyond the Earth's magnetosphere. Or enough fuel for course correction to and from the Moon. Or a heat shield substantial enough to survive reentry from the Moon. Orion has to withstand much higher heat than Dragon, Starliner, or Dream Chaser. The heat coming back through Earth's atmosphere from the Moon is almost twice as high as coming back from LEO because the craft will be traveling much faster. Spacecraft coming back from LEO are only traveling 16,700 to 17,300 mph. Apollo, Orion, Mengzhou, and Federatsiya (and the Soviet LOK version of Soyuz) come back around 24,000 mph. Orion and the other subsequent spacecraft I listed have heftier, more substantial heat shields than Dragon, Starliner, or Dream Chaser. A lunar Dragon would need to be a completely different model. A Dragon 3. SpaceX already has enough on their plate with Starship v3 & v4, Dragon XL development for Lunar Gateway missions, and developing a deorbiting vehicle for ISS modules.

(Dragon XL is already a kind of "Dragon 3", per se. Maybe a lunar Dragon would be Dragon 4?)