Back in June, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams flew to the International Space Station on Boeing's Starliner. But now they'll fly home next February in a SpaceX Crew Dragon, despite Boeing's insistence Starliner is safe to fly them back. [00:00:15] You know. It's disappointing that that they're not coming home on Starliner, but that's okay. It's a test flight. NASA spent weeks analyzing issues Starliner developed on its flight to the ISS, specifically helium leaks and the overheating of small maneuvering thrusters. [00:00:32] Bit of a disaster. Now, two astronauts who were supposed to be in space for a mere eight days for a test flight, will now be stuck in space until February, thanks to safety concerns involving that Boeing capsule used in the mission. The Boeing Starliner. [00:00:48] Now, the AP reports that Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been stuck at the International Space Station since the beginning of June, and again, they were only supposed to be there for eight days. Now they're going to be stuck there until February. So issues with the Boeing capsule include thruster failures and helium leaks, [00:01:08] as you heard in that video, which marred their trip to the space station, they ended up in a holding pattern as engineers conducted tests and debated what to do about their flight back. So as a result, the two of them will wait [00:01:23] for SpaceX's next taxi flight, and it's due to launch in late September with two astronauts instead of the usual four. In order to make room for the two astronauts who are now stranded in the International Space Station. Now, Starliner's troubles began years before this test flight happened. [00:01:42] Bad software fouled the first test flight without a crew back in 2019, prompting a do over in 2022. Then parachute and other issues cropped up, including a helium leak in the capsule's propellant system that nixed a launch attempt in May. [00:02:01] That leak, or the leak eventually was deemed to be isolated and small enough to pose no concern, but more leaks sprouted following liftoff and five thrusters also failed. Now, these 28 thrusters are incredibly important because they keep [00:02:17] the capsule pointed in the right direction at the flight's end. As bigger engines kind of steer the craft out of orbit, and so coming in crooked could result in a complete and utter disaster and could literally kill the two astronauts in the capsule. - Jake. - Hey, don't scroll away. [00:02:34] Come back, come back. Because before the video continues, we just want to urge you to lend your support to tweet you power our honest reporting. You do it at tyt.com/team and we love you for it. Boeing's a mess so I can't know for sure. [00:02:51] None of us can, how risky it is for them to come back on the Starliner. We've got to trust NASA on it now. Is NASA going to on the side of safety? Yes, they are right. So. And I'm sure that Boeing is very frustrated by that. [00:03:07] I'm sure that Boeing thinks, no, this you've got 28 thrusters. Yes, five of them failed, but four of them are back to working. There's only one out of 28. It's not a big enough issue. We've analyzed this. This is what Boeing is saying. Analyze the risk. And we think the risk is de minimis and not worth delaying this for. [00:03:25] And having them stuck up there for all that time. But NASA's got to make the call and I'm I'm not. There's no way I can second guess them or any of us can second guess them. And by the way, if they're leaning on the side of safety, that's probably the right thing to do. As one of our members, our guy pointed out, Starliner is as safe as a 737 Max. [00:03:44] Right? Right. Oh, wait. Exactly. That's why I do not in any way begrudge NASA for making this decision. It is awful that these two astronauts are going to be stuck for many months in the International Space Station. They won't be able to come home until February. But remember, Boeing has their own reasons [00:04:04] for why they do not want to switch to a space capsule for the flight home. I mean, they were hoping that this whole mission was going to help launder their image. After all of the terrible incidents that have arisen have arised as a result of their planes. [00:04:21] So even AP news notes this. They say Boeing had counted on Starliner's first crew trip to revive the troubled spacecraft program. After years of delays and ballooning costs, the company had insisted Starliner was safe. Based on all the recent thruster tests, both in space and on the ground. [00:04:38] But you know, they're taking a huge risk there. Sure, they're going to say like, no, no, I mean, five thrusters failed, four of them are back online. Everything's fine. Only one of them is failing. But if something goes wrong and those two astronauts die, Boeing is. - I don't know how they recover from that. - Yeah. [00:04:54] And look, I was kind of again, I'm a novice. There's no way I could determine. But I was kind of torn, based on the reporting on whether the risk was significant enough that they shouldn't do it or not. Right. Because they it seems like they have most of the issues under control, not the one thruster. [00:05:09] And one other thing. But then I read a portion of it where they said, well, the other four might have gone out because when they're in a certain flight, area. It might cause a swelling, which then blocks other parts. And I was like, no, that's it. No, don't don't fly it. [00:05:26] Okay. Because remember, guys, these, space programs are very the shuttles, etc. Are super. I mean, it's a hilarious thing to say, but super complicated. Even the slightest little thing being off and the whole thing blows up. - Exactly. - Yeah. That's why I wouldn't take the risk. [00:05:42] And again, I do not begrudge NASA for making this decision. Now, this next video will have some visuals to help you kind of understand what the issues are. So let's take a quick look at that. That propulsion system is critical to the return flight home, [00:05:57] including undocking and the braking burn on the return to Earth. The small engines need to fire hundreds of times to keep the spacecraft in the precise orientation for safe reentry and on target touchdown instead, Starliner will return uncrewed next month. There was just too much. [00:06:15] Uncertainty in the prediction of the thrusters. It was just too much risk with the crew. Yeah, I agree, I do think it's too much risk. I'm novice as well. I'm not an expert on this, but I just don't know if I would take Boeing's word on it. I wouldn't take Boeing's word on anything at this point. [00:06:32] Yeah. And so look, now the chance of it blowing up on reentry is even higher because pilots do a better job of bringing it back in safely without pilots, it might blow up. And then oh my God, it's an extra nightmare for Boeing. [00:06:47] Yeah, exactly. I mean, they're taking such a huge risk by urging the Boeing capsule to be used to bring them back home. I mean, again, if something goes wrong and those two astronauts die, you guys are done for, like, again, I don't know how you recover from that. That's true. But. And remember, like, what I'm saying is that without the astronauts, [00:07:05] the chance of it blowing up is higher. - Oh, I see what you're saying. - So then Boeing is going to be like. But if we had the astronauts in there, they might not have blown up. But no one's going to care if it blows up. Boeing's totally screwed. Well, Boeing, you guys got to clean your house. Okay. Like what's going on here? Seriously? Because it's not just this one story. This is not an isolated incident. [00:07:23] - You know, I have a theory on that. - What's your theory? That we're we're having a serious competency problem in the United States. Like serious competency problem? Yes, but why is the question the question? It's because there's no accountability. So the Pentagon gets audited. [00:07:40] They never pass an audit. They say we don't know where half the money went. And so we constantly funnel money to these defense contractors. Billions overall trillions at a time. Right. And and then we go I don't worry about it. It's just just suck out all the money from the American taxpayers wallets. [00:07:58] And remember, this is not really about defense or space programs or any of that. This is also we can get paid. You guys are going to get trillions of dollars, and then you're going to funnel some of that to the former generals, to the politicians, campaigns, etc. We're all going to get rich. So take a load off. [00:08:14] So and after a while, if there's no accountability, you start making mistakes. Yeah. And remember, about a decade ago NASA made a decision to enter these, you know public private partnerships which have their own issues, to be sure. And what they wanted is to invite private industry to compete with one another [00:08:32] for these government grants in order to work with NASA. And what's fascinating about this is that Boeing got a much larger grant from the federal government compared to SpaceX. They received more than $4 billion compared to SpaceX's $2.6 billion. [00:08:48] Yeah. And so now they're showing America credit where credit is due. SpaceX is kicking their ass and SpaceX is kicking ass overall doing an unbelievable job. So for all our issues with Elon Musk on politics and how he runs Twitter X [00:09:05] and by the way, obviously the brother is obsessed with the letter X. Okay. Just recently on X spaces which is different than X SpaceX or space X. Okay. Let it go Elon. Anyways, overall though, it's weird, but it's true. [00:09:23] SpaceX is dominating and so apparently you can run it well. And so look this is if SpaceX continues to do this well and they continue to take business from them and they dominate here. Score one for capitalism competition. The better company wins out. [00:09:41] - Competition will start kicking in. - Yeah. Okay. Then you know what's going to happen next. Then SpaceX is going to get bloated. They're going to be unaccountable. There's going to be no competition. And then they're going to start blowing up. That's right. That's the usual pattern. - Yeah. - It is important to have competition. [00:09:57] It is important to prevent, you know, various industries from monopolizing, you know. Right now there are two major players and it's Boeing and SpaceX. I'm glad that SpaceX is at least delivering. Boeing needs to clean their house. Figure it out. Thanks for watching The Young Turks really appreciate it. Another way to show support is through YouTube memberships. [00:10:15] You'll get to interact with us more. There's live chat emojis, badges. You've got emojis of me Anna John Jr. So those are super fun. But you also get playback of our exclusive member only shows and specials right after they air. [00:10:31] So all of that, all you got to do is click that join button right underneath the video. Thank you.