back to article Uncle Sam probes SpaceX – but crack nothing to be alarmed about, we're told

Boeing and SpaceX craft designed to take humans into orbit suffer fractures, according to a leaked report by the US government's General Accountability Office. The dossier, seen by The Wall Street Journal, states that SpaceX has an issue with cracking turbine blades in the fuel delivery system for its rockets. Boeing, …

  1. cd

    How does the autopilot work on those?

    1. Vulch

      Very well.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Iridium Launch/Landing 14.01.17

      "How does the autopilot work on those?"

      I think you must have missed the latest landing video:

      https://youtu.be/00nnD2gtxK0

  2. Joe Gurman

    Is it wise

    ....to accept the Wall Street Journal as a source for any tech news?

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: Is it wise

      Compared to POTUS on twitter?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Is it wise

      Indeed. That rag is owned and operated by News Corp, the corruption of news, worldwide. One would tend to accept this source, as long as you don't mind news gathered from a dumpster in back of a NASA building.

      I'll wait for another source, then it can become a bit of 100% info in my head, instead of possible 50% garbage, 49% hype, and 1% info; the standard for News Crap, I mean Corp. I'm being very generous with 1% there, mind you. Could be well within margins of error.

      1. macjules

        Re: Is it wise

        Please don't tell me that Murdoch is getting into space exploration? If he is, the good news would be that he could send the idiot son Lachlan up as Boeing's first victim astronaut

  3. Martin Summers Silver badge

    I wonder how much re-inventing of the wheel is going on when NASA has safely (not always granted but mostly) sent and returned humans to space and have this pretty much down after decades of research and testing. I sincerely hope for the safety of those brave few that information and best practice have been shared to make sure there are no tragedies that will be put down to 'testing'. Space travel should never be in beta and has no excuse to be after all that has gone before.

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Perhaps SpaceX could lean from Nasa how layers of management can transform an engineer's 1:100 risk of an accident into an official 1:300,000 risk with only the aid of Powerpoint

      1. Dave Bell

        Swings and Roundabouts

        NASA and SpaceX have both recovered engines after flight and had the chance to examine them. NASA still lost two Shuttles, but not to main engine faults.

        NASA and SpaceX should be talking to each other, and the NASA knowledge from the SSME should have gone into the SpaceX engines at the design stage.

        Trouble is, Aerojet Rocketdyne makes the SSME, and they may not want to talk to SpaceX. It's one of the downsides of market forces and general commercial rivalry. Though, as well as the RS-25 from the Shuttle, Aerojet Rocketdyne is flogging a version of the Russian NK-33. The world is changing.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        MS Powerpoint.

        "Perhaps SpaceX could lean from Nasa how layers of management can transform an engineer's 1:100 risk of an accident into an official 1:300,000 risk with only the aid of Powerpoint"

        Does that stat include the Powerpoint Crashes?

      3. Spudley

        Perhaps SpaceX could lean from Nasa how layers of management can transform an engineer's 1:100 risk of an accident into an official 1:300,000 risk with only the aid of Powerpoint ...and an extra trillion dollars.

        There, fixed that for you.

    2. Phill.Shill

      Rockets are hard and more people are going to die.

      The space shuttle was amazing but it resulted in the two largest loss of life events in spaceflight history because of an issue with an O ring and some damage to a foam tile. The smallest mistake can cause a total loss of mission to any craft, this is not as simple as a car where you just roll onto the shoulder and get out

      But what is the alternative, send no one because someone is going to die pushing the final frontier? I'd take the chance over sitting on the couch.

      1. Brian Griffiths

        "I'd take the chance over sitting on the couch"

        I'd let someone else take the chance while I sit on the couch...

        1. SkippyBing

          On Tuesday I heard Stephen Carver from Cranfield University talk about the factors behind the two Shuttle crashes. I won't try and condense two hours of brilliance into a post but suffice to say, the engineers knew both accidents were going to happen, management did the equivalent of putting their fingers in their ears and going lalalala. NASA at the time were hugely dysfunctional, if they'd been running an airline 747s would have been hitting the ground like confetti.

          If you ever get the chance to hear Stephen talk take it, for some people in the audience it was their fourth time hearing the presentation and they were there voluntarily.

          1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

            Thanks for the Stephen Carver suggestion. DuckDuckGo his "Goto 2015" conference talk on the shuttle and Nasa corporate culture

          2. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
            Facepalm

            > the engineers knew both accidents were going to happen, management did the equivalent of putting their fingers in their ears and going lalalala.

            That's opposing "the engineers" and "management" which is utter bullshit.

            In the end "the engineers" were ALSO going lalalala. Though they didn't realize it.

    3. simno34

      I suggest you read Richard Feynman's appendix to the Rogers commission report into the Challenger disaster. They were still experiencing SSME turbo-pump turbine blades cracking up to the fatefull launch of Challenger (the 25th shuttle mission). If NASA was following FAA guidelines of the time, the shuttle would not have launched. Instead they went with a 'It hasn't blown up yet, it must be safe' attitude, which had re-asserted itself by the time Columbia launched.

      1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

        > Instead they went with a 'It hasn't blown up yet, it must be safe'

        The same statistical basis for my safety of Russian Roulette study

  4. Androgynous Cow Herd

    I would not worry about the regulations

    The president will probably remove them anyway

  5. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Unhappy

    Andy Pasztor

    Not exactly known for his balanced reporting on SX.

    Read with 50lb of salt handy.

    1. Alan Brown Silver badge

      Re: Andy Pasztor

      Exactly.

      300 merlins launched so far(*) and not a single engine RUD (although one did shut down early on one launch, but that didn't affect the delivery). If there's cracking in the turbopumps then it's fairly minor - but rest assured that having been raised it will be remedied.

      (*) Every single one of them had at least 2 ground tests before launch too.

  6. JJKing
    Coat

    Nothing to see here, move along please.

    I always thought SpaceX was all it was cracked up to be.

    Mines the one with the tear in the pocket.

    1. Baldy50

      Re: Nothing to see here, move along please.

      https://apnews.com/80018467fc104a2db8db850e7775d9b0/Last-second-launch-delay-for-SpaceX-at-historic-moon-pad

  7. mhenriday
    Pint

    What are the odds

    on a bet that Soyuz craft will still be delivering US and European space travellers to the ISS in 2019 and where can such a bet be placed ?...

    Henri

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