/sci/ - Science & Math

Both Crew Dragon and Starliner are inherently unsafe, which was obvious from the start. They have high-powered thrusters with huge chamber pressures inches apart from the crew, doubling as a launch escape system. Starliner doesn't use MMH/N2O4 and its thrusters are located a bit farther away, so in theory it should be a bit safer, but in both cases if something goes wrong LOC is pretty much guaranteed.

Orion, on the other hand, only has a small orbital thruster located much farther away from the crew. It's literally ~40 times weaker, and it's a single engine. In case of its RUD, the worst you'll probably have is Apollo 13. The classic launch escape system is also much safer. It's a single solid booster, which is much simpler and isn't prone to spinning due to de-synchronized thrusters.

By the way, here's the Starliner's launch complex escape system, which is also unsafe by design.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u31z5gKJWrE
In case of emergency, workers/astronauts have to tie themselves (which takes time) and slide down the zip line. Yeah... excellent design for a collapsing launch tower.