This is a bad day for Boeing. Its Starliner space capsule was expected to be a premier commercial crew vehicle. Today, NASA cut its contract with Boeing for missions to the International Space Station from six to just four. The next mission (after Suni-Butch extended stay ISS) will be cargo only.

While you are sleeping a SpaceX Dragon undocked from the International Space Station (ISS). On that spacecraft are the two astronauts who rode up to the ISS on the Boeing Starliner. They were never stuck. Here's why:

davidkerley.substack.com/p/un-non-not...

Why does the Moon seem farther away? A look at setbacks and challenges ahead to return to the lunar surface.

davidkerley.substack.com/p/the-moon-s...

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin makes it to orbit for the first time with the launch of the heavy-lift rocket New Glenn. The reusable booster was lost, unable to land on a barge in the Atlantic. Reaching orbit will help certify New Glenn for national security launches by the US government.

NASA says it has found the root cause of the problems with the heat shield. Because there was so much heat on reentry from the Moon, gases formed and were trapped in the shield. Those gases caused cracking and uneven shedding of the ablative material.