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A conservative watchdog group has sued NASA for access to all documents related to the stranding of two U.S. astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project wants to know what went wrong, why it went wrong, and what Vice President Kamala Harris, the chair of the National Space Council (NSpC), has done about it.

Background Information

On June 5th, astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams rode aboard the Boeing Starliner capsule in its first crewed flight to the ISS for an eight-day test mission.

“But problems with helium leaks and thruster failures were subsequently discovered and have kept the astronauts in space conducting tests to determine whether the Starliner could bring them safely back to Earth,” according to Vox.

Three months after the astronauts’ arrival aboard the ISS, NASA announced that it had decided that the Starliner capsule couldn’t bring them home safely and that they’d instead return home in February of 2025 via a SpaceX Dragon capsule.

Oversight Project Lawsuit

Oversight Project Executive Director Mike Howell suspects for his part that this massive delay that the astronauts must contend with before they’re allowed to return home is related to politics somehow.

“This looks like to me and other experts that Kamala Harris, the space czar, chose politics over our astronauts,” he told Fox News. “It’s very bizarre that the mainstream media seems not to care about this massive scandal. We’re going to continue to investigate this and get Americans the answers they deserve.”

What proof does he have? For one, the fact that Boeing for its part was confident in the Starliner capsule’s capability to bring the astronauts home.

“Boeing remains confident in the Starliner spacecraft and its ability to return safely with crew,” the company said in a statement published in early August. “Our confidence is based on this abundance of valuable testing from Boeing and NASA.”

“The testing has confirmed 27 of 28 RCS thrusters are healthy and back to full operational capability. Starliner’s propulsion system also maintains redundancy and the helium levels remain stable. The data also supports root cause assessments for the helium and thruster issues and flight rationale for Starliner and its crew’s return to Earth,” the statement continued.

For another, Howell has claimed that under Harris’ tenure as the chair of the NSpC, NASA has turned into a DEI-focused hellhole.

“Space is serious business. Kamala Harris obviously has no business running the National Space Council,” he told Fox News. “They’re lost in space right now. Part of the reason they’re lost in space is that our NASA has been turned into another woke-DEI, dismal excuse for a government agency.”

“The fact is that Vice President Kamala Harris’ record as Border Czar is as awful as her record as Space Czar,” he added.

It’s because of these concerns, Howell said, that it’s vital that any correspondence between NASA, Boeing, and Harris’ camp is thoroughly reviewed.

“It seems that Harris signaled a willingness to cede America’s space superiority in the name of an effort to ‘save democracy,’” he said, suggesting that NASA’s focus on DEI is jeopardizing national security. “When is enough enough?”

Boeing has also previously been accused of prioritizing DEI over safety. In fact, after a Boeing plane slid off the runway at a Houston airport in March, Fox News contributor Sean Duffy explicitly blamed DEI for this and other incidents.

“When did we almost have all of these accidents — when did doors fly off?” he said. “This is a pilot. He has landed. He’s on his way to the gate. He went off the runway, it appears. This is a pilot problem. It brings everyone to diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

“Are we hiring the best pilots, the best mechanics, the best air traffic controllers? I don’t care what your race, your sex, your religion. I just want the best people, and if you don’t hire the best people for these jobs, these bad things happen,” he added.

Vivek Saxena
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