Читая про многострадальный Boeing Starliner наткнулся на версию о том, что Boeing давно хочет слиться с этого проекта, но не может просто выйти, т.к. если выйдет сам, то в каком-то там "личном деле" будет пометка о подобном поведении, что скажется на будущих контрактах. Потому хочет всё обставить это так, чтобы их выставила NASA.

А NASA страдает с этим чтобы не попасть в полную зависимость от SpaceX и иметь альтернативу.

Boeing can't bail. If they break the contract, it will be a black mark on their federal contracting record, which will harm their ability to win new contracts – not just with NASA, but more importantly with the Pentagon, which is where the real money is for Boeing.

That said, if Boeing really wants out, they will likely lobby to have NASA terminate the contract "for the convenience of the government" – so officially it is NASA who is cancelling it, with the result that Boeing's federal contracting record remains clean on paper.

the root cause is thermal overheating due to a design flaw in the thruster enclosure ("doghouse"), where the design provides insufficient cooling. The problematic thrusters are all in the same area, which is likely the worst affected by the overheating. Boeing can't explain exactly why this particular thruster within that area failed permanently and the other four only failed intermittently, but when you are pushing a system to its thermal limits, it is expected that the outcome will be less than completely deterministic. And of course, Boeing wouldn't be eager to give the root cause as "our design is flawed and we didn't do adequate pre-flight testing to pick up on it, and our thermal analysis was flawed too". Much better to say "we still don't know".

https://www.space.com/boeing-starliner-iss-hot-fire-reentry-preparation

Если правда, то это приводит ко всё бОльшим вопросам относительно сформировавшейся в Боинг системе отбора топ-менеджмента, которая выталкивает наверх тех, кто мыслит подобным образом.

У них там уже целое движение относительно боинга "верните власть инженерам!".

SpaceX доделали новую версию раптора, который может работать в собственном пламени - вся требуха укрыта охлаждаемыми кожухами.

The model of the sunken and deteriorated Soviet K-129 submarine was created by the CIA during the AZORIAN mission, and has never been displayed before. (cia museum/ cia)

U.S. Navy experimental littoral combat ship Sea Fighter (FSF-1) coming into Panama City, Florida - July 29, 2024