ClaimsRodney Brooks

“It was supposed to be the final unmanned test of the vehicle, and was planned to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) and then do a soft landing on the ground.”

Rodney Brooks, blog author 1 January 2020 Predictions Scorecard, 2020 January 01 (rodneybrooks.com) archived copy

Factual Technology

The December 2019 Starliner flight was meant to be the final unmanned test, planned to dock with the ISS and then soft-land on the ground.

Mostly true True in substance, wrong in a detail.

Factual: Statements about the present or the past, checked against the record: did they hold up?

The second judge would not resolve this claim; the verdict shown is the first judge's.

What would count as true or false

True if NASA or Boeing records show that the December 2019 Boeing Starliner Orbital Flight Test was an uncrewed test intended to be the last uncrewed flight before crewed flights, and was planned to dock with the ISS and then land on the ground under parachutes and airbags. Mostly true if all of this holds but one minor detail is off, such as the wording of 'final'. Mixed if one major element (docking or ground landing) was not part of the plan. Mostly false or false if the flight was crewed, was not planned to dock, or was not planned as the final uncrewed test.

Set before the research began.

Evidence (4)

  1. E1 NASA, Boeing Complete Successful Landing of Starliner Flight Test - NASA NASA · 22 December 2019

    “wrapping up the company's uncrewed Orbital Flight Test as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program.”
  2. E2 NASA, Boeing Complete Successful Landing of Starliner Flight Test - NASA NASA · 22 December 2019

    “Although Starliner did not reach its planned orbit and dock to the International Space Station as planned”
  3. E3 Boeing's Starliner encounters a problem: Spacecraft won't reach the space station on uncrewed test flight | CNN Business CNN · 20 December 2019

    “Starliner was scheduled to dock with the space station over the weekend, mimicking the flight path it will take when it flies its first crewed mission.”
  4. E4 Boeing Software Errors Could Have Doomed Starliner's Uncrewed Test Flight SpacePolicyOnline · 7 February 2020

    “It did complete other objectives and two days later landed in White Sands, New Mexico as planned.”

Reasoning

NASA's releases describe the December 2019 flight as Boeing's uncrewed Orbital Flight Test, which was planned to reach orbit and dock with the ISS (E1, E2). SpacePolicyOnline reports that it landed at White Sands, New Mexico, as planned, which supports a planned ground landing (E4). CNN says the flight was meant to copy the flight path of the first crewed mission (E3), which suggests it was the last uncrewed step before crew. No source explicitly says it was the "final" uncrewed test, though, and none mentions airbags, so that detail is only partly supported.

Cite this claim

Rodney Brooks, “The December 2019 Starliner flight was meant to be the final unmanned test, planned to dock with the ISS and then soft-land on the ground.” (said 1 January 2020). Verdict: mostly true. Reliability API, claim c_bb152aa69d1d, method 0.1.0+c876030c, dataset release v1.1.2. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_bb152aa69d1d

This claim is in dataset release v1.1.2, with the same verdict.

Reply to this claim

For Rodney Brooks, or someone speaking for them: a correction or counter-evidence. Replies are read before anything is shown; an approved reply shows your name, role, date, statement and link. Your email address is never shown and is deleted 30 days after the decision (privacy).

More factual claims by Rodney Brooks

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    “Zoox has purpose built vehicles that have no steering wheel or pedals for brake or accelerator.”

    Zoox has purpose-built vehicles with no steering wheel or brake and accelerator pedals.

  2. Mixed Factual 29 September 2024
    “In the early days of robots for hospitals and for hospitality (i.e., hotels) and for managed care facilities for the elderly, it was first necessary to install Wi-Fi in the buildings as it was needed…”

    In the early days of robots for hospitals, hotels and managed care facilities, Wi-Fi first had to be installed in buildings so the robots could know what to do next.

  3. Mostly true Factual 29 September 2024
    “The Roomba was an easy sale, not just for its price, but because it did not demand that people had to install some infrastructure in their home environment before they could have a Roomba clean their…”

    The Roomba did not require customers to install any infrastructure before use; it needed only a standard electrical outlet for its charger.

  4. Mostly true Factual 1 January 2024
    “I did an analysis of the lack of videos showing any practical looking flights of any potential eVTOL solution”

    In late 2022 Brooks analysed the lack of videos showing any practical-looking flights of any eVTOL vehicle, despite multi-billion dollar company valuations.

  5. Resolved true Factual 22 June 2023
    “The long tail is not solved by learning, fire chief not happy with humanless vehicles in SF”

    The San Francisco fire chief is unhappy with driverless vehicles in the city.

All of them

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