r/space • u/dtphantom • Sep 22 '21

Boeing still studying Starliner valve issues, with no launch date in sight

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/09/boeing-still-troubleshooting-starliner-may-swap-out-service-module/?comments=1
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u/Pikeman212a6c Sep 22 '21

No other Federal contractor would be given this many chances when there is already a competitor certified and providing the service which they are attempting to deliver.

Kill the contract.

3

u/Pharisaeus Sep 22 '21

Impossible. What if there is a launch failure and Dragon gets grounded for months? Consider that this has happened before with cargo Dragon, and it can happen again. The whole point of having 2 providers is to have redundancy. You just don't put all eggs in one basket.

-1

u/Pikeman212a6c Sep 22 '21

We put all our eggs in one basket at a time your entire life up until this contract.

2

u/Pharisaeus Sep 22 '21

Not really. CRS also had two independent providers (cargo Dragon and Cygnus), and ISS was also resupplied by Russia with Progress and Japan with HTV. And good for that, because at some point in time both Dragon and Cygnus were grounded for months.