JF Mezei wrote on Tue, 25 Jun 2019
12:59:24 -0400:

Dragon had a failure in a critical system which prevents the test of
this critical system (abort in flight).


Thank you, Captain Obvious.


Starliner hasn't had any failures because it is behind and hasn't even
had unmanned test.


Not true. In point of fact, Starliner had a long hiatus in testing
because a ground test of their abort motor had an anomaly that
required some redesign.


Assuming SpaceX has found the cause and knows how to fix it, Dragon
could be back in business and still be quite ahead.


I don't think you can make that assumption.


SpaceX appears have
a new policy of not letting Musk say much, so I don't know that one can
derive a conclusion from lack of news.


Evidence for this "new policy"? I think in this case a lack of
statements says exactly what it seems to say; they don't have a
definitive answer yet.


When Boeing starts its tests, it could work flawlessly or not. We have
to wait. Will they also have a max-Q abort test? That would seem to
require at least 2 test flights right?


From what I can tell, Boeing doesn't plan a Max-Q abort test. Instead,
it looks like they're going to 'certify' based on ground testing of
'flight-like' test articles. I'm also not sure that a Max-Q test is
required prior to experimental manned flight. It's only required to
demonstrate the "full envelope abort" capability required by the
contract prior to first 'operational' flight.


--
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to
live in the real world."
-- Mary Shafer, NASA Dryden