SpaceX and Boeing run to put a man in space, and they lose both – BGR

NASA would like to stop having to rely on Russia to send its astronauts into space, but realizing that this dream means that someone must be up to par with a system of safe and reliable crew transportation. At present, SpaceX and Boeing are working independently to meet this demand, but a new report from the Government Accountability Office reveals that none of them is as far as they can go. should be, and this is not good news for American astronauts. The two companies – SpaceX with its Dragon capsule and Boeing with its Starliner spacecraft – are under contract with NASA to develop, build and launch commercial crew missions to the International Space Station, but the systems assessments of the two companies reveal shortcomings

The government's report does not mince words about how delays could affect NASA's scientific efforts in relation to work aboard the International Space Station:

"Boeing and SpaceX continue to advance their crew transportation systems, but the two contractors have further delayed the certification stage in early 2019. Without a contin We concluded that NASA was at risk of not to be able to maximize the return on its multi-billion dollar investment in the space station. "

If the two companies fail NASA simply does not have a backup plan to send its astronauts to the space station. Meeting the requirements of NASA means proving beyond double that manned spaceships are capable of safely transporting astronauts to the ISS, and neither is still close.

As SpaceX has clearly demonstrated these past ten years is incredibly difficult. Society has celebrated its failures in the past as learning experiences, but things change dramatically when human lives are at stake. It is obviously crucial that both companies correct things, and if delays mean a trip to safe in the future, it will be worth the wait.