Unmanned return of Starliner points to quality issues
China DailyAstronauts inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Station's Harmony module and Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. Despite Starliner's safe return, NASA's commercial crew program manager Steve Stich said the decision not to have the astronauts on board during the craft's journey back to earth was the right one. "The Starliner's successful return seems like pure luck, as the issues it encountered could not be replicated on earth for a solution," said Lin Luzhou, assistant professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University's Academy of Regional and Global Governance. "The current model for commercial space exploration undoubtedly starts with significant investment in research, which is no longer sustainable under incumbent financing mode," Lin said. "When the government budget is primarily allocated to debt repayment and military expenses, public funding for space exploration — an area that isn't immediately profitable — diminishes," Ding said.
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Unmanned return of Starliner points to quality issues
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