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One case of shoddy welding set production back seven months, the agency’s inspector general found

NASA’s inspector general has issued a damning report on Boeing’s rocket division, stating that the aerospace giant’s next-generation spacecraft is years behind schedule, significantly over budget, and built by “inexperienced technicians” led by ineffective managers.

In development since 2014, the Block 1B variant of NASA’s Space Launch System was originally scheduled to lift off as part of the agency’s Artemis II lunar flyby mission next year. The rocket’s debut has since been pushed back to the 2028 Artemis IV moon landing mission, which NASA’s Office of Inspector General warned on Thursday could be delayed even further.

Boeing, which was contracted in 2014 to build the rocket’s powerful upper section, is partly to blame for this delay, the inspector general declared in a report.

NASA inspectors visiting Boeing’s Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana found glaring “deficiencies in quality,” the report stated. Inspectors issued 71 Corrective Action Requests to remedy these deficiencies, which they noted was “a high number…for a space flight system at this stage in development.” 

These deficiencies “are largely due to the lack of a sufficient number of trained and experienced aerospace workers at Boeing,” the report continued, citing one example of how the company’s “inexperienced technicians” were unable to weld a fuel tank in accordance with NASA standards. This shoddy welding directly led to a seven-month delay in the development of the rocket’s upper stage.

“Boeing’s process to address deficiencies to date has been ineffective, and the company has generally been nonresponsive in taking corrective actions when the same quality control issues reoccur,” the report declared.

Boeing initially promised to deliver the upper stage by February 2021, and now insists that it will be ready by April 2027. Costs have soared in the meantime, with NASA estimating that the stage will set it back $2.8 billion by 2028, more than double Boeing’s 2017 estimate of $962 million.

The inspector general’s office recommended that Boeing be fined for its “noncompliance with quality control standards.” However, NASA’s deputy associate administrator, Catherine Koerner, announced on Thursday that the company would not be penalized.

With its aviation division already reeling after a door panel blew off one of its 737 MAX 9 planes in mid-air in January, Boeing was thrust into the headlines again in June when its Starliner spacecraft malfunctioned, leaving two astronauts marooned on the International Space Station (ISS). The astronauts were originally meant to stay on the ISS for a week, but NASA announced on Wednesday that they could be stranded in space until 2025, when SpaceX’s Crew Dragon is scheduled to drop off a fresh crew of astronauts.

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Nick Fuentes on Israeli False Flags and the 2024 Election

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Putin will see this as the US much more directly entering the war, and has previously set firm red lines on such a scenario

The Pentagon on Thursday was asked by a reporter during the daily briefing whether Ukraine forces’ use of American weapons in its ongoing Kursk incursion is “consistent” with US policy of what Ukraine can and cannot do with US weapons.

It has become clear that Ukrainian troops are currently using American weapons to attack Russian territory, troops, civilians, and infrastructure.

Spokeswoman Sabrina Singh answered without hesitation that “yes it is consistent with our policy” and explained that Washington has supported the need for “crossfire” from Ukraine back across the border onto Russian positions from which it is being attacked, even if that is on Russian territory. She framed what is happening in Russia’s Kursk oblast—an offensive which has entered day four—as ‘defensive’ in nature.

Singh still tried to point out that it remains US policy for Ukraine to avoid striking deep into Russian territory using American arms; however, when pressed about the scenario of a direct attack on Moscow, she simply said: “I’m not going to put a specific range on it” and thus refused to rule it out.

But she did caveat that “we still don’t support long-range attacks into Russia.”

Singh additionally explained, “I’m not gonna draw a circular map for you here of where they can and cannot strike.” The Kremlin is likely to remain unconvinced when hearing this clear escalation in rhetoric from the Pentagon where attacking the Russian capital is discussed, even if theoretically.

Watch the full exchange related to the Kursk offensive below:

Needless to say we have entered incredibly dangerous times in this major proxy war when the Pentagon’s daily press briefing is openly talking about strikes on Moscow.

The Ukrainian cross-border offensive, which may have involved up to 1,000 men, began early Tuesday morning and was led by fast moving armored vehicles, which were able to penetrate up to 10km into Ukraine. Moscow says that it has observed US-supplied equipment being utilized in the attack on Russian soil.

A prior Russian Defense Ministry (MoD) statement said, “Video monitoring data shows that Lancet loitering munitions destroyed a US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, a Kazak armored vehicle, a Ukrainian armored personnel carrier and an infantry fighting vehicle in their firing positions.” Newsweek also confirmed based on video evidence.

The MoD further said that dozens of armored vehicles breached the border and were operating inside Russia amid a major response to push out the invaders which has included airpower.

As of Friday, the fighting in Kursk is in its fourth day, which is unprecedented for a Ukrainian military incursion inside Russia. Ukraine has simultaneously stepped up its cross-border drone attacks, reportedly hitting an important military airfield in the Lepetsk region, impacting a facility where glide-bombs are stored. According to the latest:

• Ukrainian drones struck a key military airfield in Russia’s Lipetsk region, as Kyiv continues its largest offensive on Russian soil since the start of the war.
• Ukrainian forces targeted the airfield in Lipetsk — roughly 300 kilometers (186 miles) from the border with Ukraine — on Thursday night, hitting warehouses and a number of unspecified objects in the vicinity of the airport, Ukraine’s General Staff of Command said in a Google-translated Telegram post.
• Earlier in the week, the Ukrainian offensive led to the evacuation of thousands of people and a state of emergency being announced in Kursk.

The timing of this high-risk assault is interesting, happening at a time where Ukraine has been on a slow and steady retreat in the Donbass. Ukraine needed something ‘big’ to both distract Russia’s military command from front line operations and as a blow to Moscow’s morale. 

And now Kiev is pressing the Biden White House to let it use ATACMS long-range missiles to strike deeper into Russia.

“This will give them the leverage they need for negotiations with Russia — this is what it’s all about,” Mikhail Podoliak, a senior advisor to President Zelensky, told The Washington Post.

On Thursday, Zelensky himself had said Russia needs to “feel” the consequences of its invasion and war. “Russia brought the war to our land and should feel what it has done,” he said.

It is now looking like Ukraine will actually seek to maintain hold over parts of Kursk Oblast, and its officials have dubiously claimed to have captured approximately 100 square kilometers of territory. Ukraine also says it has taken hundreds of Russian soldiers as prisoners.

According to The Washington post as well as Ukrainian media sources:

The Ukrainian leadership has approached the US for permission to use ATACMS to target Russian territory after the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) conducted an incursion into Russia’s Kursk Oblast. This could allow Kyiv to hold the territory they have pushed into, according to The Washington Post, citing an anonymous advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The long-range missiles are planned to be used to strike Russian military airfields from which Russian aircraft conduct bombing raids on Ukrainian positions. According to the source, such a political decision would help the AFU maintain control over parts of the Kursk Oblast.

Based on the above-mentioned words of the Pentagon press secretary where she noticeably did not verbalize limits on striking Moscow, this potential greenlight from Washington to use ATACMS on Russian territory is looking more likely by the day.

President Putin will see this as the US much more directly entering the war, and has previously set firm red lines on such a scenario.

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Nick Fuentes on Israeli False Flags and the 2024 Election

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A prominent Australian journalist, who publicly declared that she loathed anti-vaxxers, has died after a short battle with turbo cancer. Jane Hansen used to report for A Current Affair. She developed turbo cancer a year and […]

The post Pro-Vaccine Journalist, Who ‘Loathed’ Anti-Vaxxers, Dies of Turbo Cancer appeared first on The People’s Voice.

Responding to the police crackdown on free speech in the UK, Joe Rogan pointed out that more people in the UK now get arrested for “thought crimes” on social media than they do in Russia. […]

The post Joe Rogan: UK Now More Totalitarian Than Russia appeared first on The People’s Voice.

A new court filing claims Hunter Biden received $3 million from a Romanian oligarch in exchange for political favours

Hunter Biden was given money by a Romanian oligarch to influence US policy when his father was Vice President, according to a new filing in the tax case against the President’s son.

The court filing, made on Wednesday, alleges that Hunter Biden and a business associate took more than $3 million from Gabriel Popoviciu, a Romanian oligarch who sought to influence US policy when Joe Biden was Vice President, in 2015.

According to prosecutors, Hunter Biden and his business associates “were concerned that lobbying work might cause political ramifications for the defendant’s father,” so they structured the deal in order to “[conceal] the true nature of the work he was performing.”

Passing reference was made to Hunter Biden’s work with Popoviciu in the special counsel’s December indictment. This new filing is the first to suggest that Hunter Biden was given money in exchange for political influence, and is the first time prosecutors have attempted to tie the son’s business activities to the father’s political career, despite years of persistent allegations and rumours.

James Comer, for example, has said that the Biden family received over $20 million from foreign nationals while Joe Biden served as Vice President under Barack Obama. Hunter’s extensive business dealings with Russia and Kazakhstan have previously been scrutinized by the House Oversight Committee.

Prosecutors allege Hunter Biden and two business partners split more than $3 million in payments from Popoviciu between November 2015 and 2017.

Hunter Biden is facing three felony tax charges and additional misdemeanors for allegedly failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes from 2016 to 2020. The back taxes and penalties have already been paid in full by Hunter Biden’s attorney, Kevin Morris.

The trial will take place in California, beginning in September.

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Newly Released Butler PD Body Cam Footage Proves Epic Failure Was Intentional, Warns Security & Firearm Expert

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Japan has been put on a state of high alert for a magnitude 9 megaquake that scientists warn could strike any moment. Zerohedge.com reports: Bullet train service in the country has apparently been disrupted by […]

The post Scientists Warn Magnitude 9 Megaquake About To Strike Japan appeared first on The People’s Voice.