NASA crew capsule technical problems.

[Gingerbread Demon]

https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/30/21726753/nasa-orion-crew-capsule-power-unit-failure-artemis-i

Slight technical problem. Critical component that has failed but its designed in such a a way that it is hard to reach the component that failed. isn't this just bad design?

 

[Non Sync]

Extremely poor design. It is such a critical system, that it should have been designed for easier servicing. That they did not have a plan to be able to access it raises major concerns about the whole design. The Apollo 1 fire was cited as a failure of imagination to recognize all the design flaws with the capsule- the hatch opened inward and impossible to open when the capsule was pressurized, use of pure oxygen (especially at sea level for testing), the amount of flammable material, and other quality control issues.

NASA Flight Director Gene Kranz said this after the accident:

From this day forward, Flight Control will be known by two words: Tough and Competent. Tough means we are forever accountable for what we do or what we fail to do. We will never again compromise our responsibilities. Competent means we will never take anything for granted. Mission Control will be perfect. When you leave this meeting today you will go to your office and the first thing you will do there is to write Tough and Competent on your blackboards. It will never be erased. Each day when you enter the room, these words will remind you of the price paid by Grissom, White, and Chaffee. These words are the price of admission to the ranks of Mission Control.

Unfortunately, the safety culture often erodes over time. Hence the Challenger and Columbia accidents. I wonder what other flaws remain to be uncovered with Orion.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Why would you even design it like this? It will take a year to separate the capsule from the service module? Why?

 

[StarCruiser]

Standard Engineering failure... "Nothing will ever go wrong with that!"

It's so unbelievably common in so many different industries, I'm not one bit surprised.

 

[Imaus]

NASA: getting across 1cm of material in four to twelve months. Fastest travel agency on the planet.

 

[Non Sync]

Not so much NASA as Lockheed Martin.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

I still can't get over 12 months to separate, what is that one bolt a week?

 

[Non Sync]

To some credit, they meticulously document every step they take. That's how they knew the O2 tank (North American Rockwell s/n 10024X-TA0008) that exploded in the Apollo 13 service module had been dropped 2 inches when it was removed from the Apollo 10 service module for modifications.

 

[publiusr]

That is rigor...

 

[XCV330]

just to point out.. Orion has been in design and contruction etc with only one orbital test and no humans flown for almost 20 years now. It's almost as ridiculous as the James Webb telescope

 

[diankra]

just to point out.. Orion has been in design and contruction etc with only one orbital test and no humans flown for almost 20 years now. It's almost as ridiculous as the James Webb telescope

An astrophysicist friend commented on Webb 15 years ago: "What do you expect if you name it after a politician?"

 

[XCV330]

An astrophysicist friend commented on Webb 15 years ago: "What do you expect if you name it after a politician?"

and what began as a 500 million dollar telescope program in 1996, is now a 10 billion dollar program that might launch next year. Or get delayed again.