Alabama's Morning News with JT
Rory O'Neil floats us some thoughts on the astronauts stuck in space
Hey there, it is Ryan Seacrest with you. You wanna make this summer unforgettable? Join me at Chumba Casino. It's this summer's hottest online destination. They are rolling out the red carpet with an amazing welcome offer just for you. So don't wait, dive in now and play hundreds of social casino games for free. Your chance to redeem real prizes is just a spin away. Here to join me. - Sponsored by Chumba Casino, no purchase necessary. VGW Group, void were prohibited by law. 18 plus terms and conditions apply. - Orbiting, oh, high above the earth, there are astronauts who can't get home. Rory O'Neill is joining us now on the astronauts who are allegedly stuck in space. Rory, what's this all about? - Yeah, I don't know what words you use 'cause they're not stock, they're not stranded, but that makes a great headline. So here's the thing. These two test pilots launched on a test flight of Boeing's new Starliner capsule to the International Space Station. Things went pretty well, but there were some issues with the thrusters and there were some ammonia leaks that actually they knew about even before liftoff. But they have not been allowed to come home yet because Boeing engineers and NASA are still trying to figure out why the thrusters aren't working as they should. This is actually the third Starliner flight, but the first with people on board and in all three flights, there have been these thruster issues. So NASA and Boeing say, well, look, they're on the station, there's plenty of food, there's plenty of water, they're safe up there. Let's have 'em stay while we try to send engineers to figure out on the ground here. What's up with these thrusters? - So the Starliner, it's docked at the station and they're in the station, but they could get back in it at some point, they're concerned that maybe there'll be a problem? - Right, so when they are docked and everything went, well, they docked successfully and now when they come home, they would have to obviously undock and then use those thrusters to put them on the right approach in order to land again. And that's where there may be issues. They're concerned that the thrusters may not work or maybe more thrusters will have problems. Most of the thrusters are working fine, but a couple of them are giving them issues. So they're trying to, again, troubleshoot what have been persisted problems with thrusters on this thing. And don't forget, this whole Starliner program, years late, billions over budget, and they don't really have a chance to examine the thrusters because after undocking and the return to Earth, that service module that contains the thrusters, that gets jettisoned and burns up in the atmosphere. So there's no benefit, there's no plus or minus to coming home now or later because you're not gonna have the thrusters back on the ground to look at. - Is this the only thing that can dock with that international space station? Like, for example, could Elon Musk send one of his vehicles up there? We have some other things that can go to space, right? And actually, if we back up. So we had the space shuttle, obviously, that built the space station, and then when it retired, we had no way of getting crew or supplies to the space station. We relied on Russia to do it. So NASA says, okay, we're not gonna have just one program ever again. So let's have a bid. We'll have two companies design spaceships that can go to the space station. SpaceX and Boeing won those contracts. Well, SpaceX has been flying people and supplies to the space station for a couple of years now. So they already have dragon capsules that can make the trip. But Boeing, again, years late to the game, they're still trying to get theirs operational. This test flight was supposed to be a big step in that direction. - Well, Boeing's had a few problems here the terrestrial anyway with their regular airplane. So I guess it's not a surprise that they would be having a problem with something that goes to space. - Well, look, and Boeing has built the space shuttle. So I mean, they have a history of building rockets and engineering in orbit. So it's not that big of a surprise for them to try this. But clearly, Boeing wants to make this mission as successful as possible because of the bad headlines in the airplane division. - I thought Lockheed built the orbiter. - No, most of all, Boeing had the maintenance contract for them. And then I think Boeing built some of the structural parts of the orbiter and then Lockheed. Yeah, it was a menagerie of companies, but Boeing for about the last 20 years of the shuttle program had the maintenance contract. - It was a team effort, in other words. - It was, yep. - Are the astronauts up there by themselves or are there others up there with, I mean, these two guys went up there on the Boeing ship, but are there some like, is the International Space Station, are there some Russians out there hanging out with them or just the two of them? - There are some Russians and some Europeans and Americans. So there was a crew of seven on the International Space Station already and then these two show up, Butch and Sonny, a man and woman, Butch Wilmore, Sonny Williams, both of them are Navy test pilots, both of them are veteran astronauts. And you know, when Starland gets operational, it will be able to carry six people up to the International Space Station on trips like this. - Can you imagine if you put your stuff in the refrigerator and all right, who ate my potato salad? - Well, right, well, how do you grow the potatoes? That brings us back to the Martian, but yeah, that's it. (laughing) - Good point. Good point. Rory O'Neill, joining us live from the Space Coast. Thank you so much for being on the show. This morning, Rory, we will talk to you again tomorrow. - Thanks, Ben. - Hello, it is Ryan and we could all use an extra bright spot in our day, couldn't we? Just to make up for things like sitting in traffic, doing the dishes, counting your steps, you know, all the mundane stuff. 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