Are Boeing and SpaceX having parachute issues with their manned capsules?
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
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There appears to be a significant conflict between what NASA has been saying about the parachute development tests for both SpaceX’s Dragon capsule and Boeing’s Starliner capsule and what the companies have reported.
The head of NASA’s manned program, Bill Gerstenmaier, has said that both programs have had “anomalies” during their tests. Both companies have said otherwise, with both companies claiming that all their parachutes have been successful. The article looks into this, and what it finds tends to support the companies over Gerstenmaier. There have been issues, but not as terrible as implied by Gerstenmaier.
So what is going on? I suspect that Gerstenmaier is overstating these issues as part NASA’s game to slow-walk the private capsules in order to make SLS not look so bad. He would of course deny this, but that denial won’t change my suspicions, in the slightest. I’ve seen NASA’s bureaucracy play too many games in connection with getting these capsules approved for flight to be generous to Gertenmaier or NASA. I don’t trust them. I’ve seen them make dishonest accusations against SpaceX and Boeing too many times already.
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On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs." --San Antonio Express-News
There appears to be a significant conflict between what NASA has been saying about the parachute development tests for both SpaceX’s Dragon capsule and Boeing’s Starliner capsule and what the companies have reported.
The head of NASA’s manned program, Bill Gerstenmaier, has said that both programs have had “anomalies” during their tests. Both companies have said otherwise, with both companies claiming that all their parachutes have been successful. The article looks into this, and what it finds tends to support the companies over Gerstenmaier. There have been issues, but not as terrible as implied by Gerstenmaier.
So what is going on? I suspect that Gerstenmaier is overstating these issues as part NASA’s game to slow-walk the private capsules in order to make SLS not look so bad. He would of course deny this, but that denial won’t change my suspicions, in the slightest. I’ve seen NASA’s bureaucracy play too many games in connection with getting these capsules approved for flight to be generous to Gertenmaier or NASA. I don’t trust them. I’ve seen them make dishonest accusations against SpaceX and Boeing too many times already.
My July fund-raiser for Behind the Black is now over. The support from my readers was unprecedented, making this July campaign the best ever, twice over. What a marvelous way to celebrate the website's tenth anniversary!
Thank you! The number of donations in July, and continuing now at the beginning of August, is too many for me to thank you all personally. Please forgive me by accepting my thank you here, in public, on the website.
If you did not donate or subscribe in July and still wish to, note that the tip jar remains available year round.
Regular readers can support Behind The Black with a contribution via paypal:
If Paypal doesn't work for you, you can support Behind The Black directly by sending your donation by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman, to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
Bob> “… both companies claiming that all their parachutes have been successful.”
I believe you are misreading the article where it says, “SpaceX, in a later statement, said it had performed five such “parachute-out” tests previously, all successfully.”
“Previously” here, means previous to the failed test. It is more clearly worded in Jeff Foust’s 9 May article — https://spacenews.com/crew-dragon-parachutes-failed-in-recent-test/ — “SpaceX said that, prior to last month’s test, it had performed five similar “parachute-out” tests where one of the four parachutes deliberately did not open. All of those were completed successfully.” No one is questioning the revelation that SpaceX’s sixth parachute-out test failed.
Did you watch Associate Administrator Gerstenmaier’s testimony? He certainly didn’t appear to be throwing SpaceX under the bus. The incident only came up because Rep. Brooks specifically asked about it, with Gerstenmaier seeming to give as little information as possible and downplaying the significance of the failure.
Gerstenmaier always seemed fairly pro-SpaceX, to me at least.
“with Gerstenmaier seeming to give as little information as possible”
Excuse me, but who does her think he works for? Congress are the Peoples’ Representatives – he should be completely open, not playing games.
Kirk,
Neither article seems to have a quote from SpaceX as to whether they think the test was a failure. That word is only coming from NASA.
Col Beausabre,
There may be little additional information to give. The article and Kirk’s linked article both suggest that the problem may be with the test setup. When there is suspicion along those lines then there is a reasonable probability that this is where the problem lies. Until they know for sure, however, giving out additional information may end up misleading people. If they prematurely say that it was the test setup but it wasn’t, then it looks like they were intentionally misleading Congress so they didn’t think things were so bad. At this stage of the investigation, it may be prudent to say as little as possible in order to keep from being bitten in the butt with your own words.
Edward,
Correct but the SpaceX statement (made after Gerstenmaier testimony) — that the five parachute-out tests prior to the April test were successful — could be taken as tacit admission that the sixth wasn’t successful, and was certainly not a claim that it was successful which is how Bob appears to have interpreted the ambiguous “previously” in Foust’s 12 May article.