Potentially, Boeing Considered Selling Starliner Following Its inaugural Crewed Space Mission Mishap
Maybe it's time for Boeing to call it quits on their space endeavors. The inaugural crewed test flight of their Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) was marked by setbacks and technical errors, leading Boeing to think about dissolving its problematic program altogether.
As per reports from the Wall Street Journal, Boeing is supposedly mulling over the prospect of selling its NASA-related ventures. The newspaper references sources close to the situation who claim that the corporation intends to offload parts of its space business, such as the Starliner spacecraft, while keeping the components being fabricated for NASA's Space Launch System rocket.
Newly appointed Boeing CEO, Kelly Ortberg, hinted at the possibility of Boeing abandoning its space-related ventures during a recent earnings call, in which the company disclosed an additional $250 million charge to cover cost overruns for Starliner. Ortberg is quoted as saying, "We're better off doing less and doing it well, than doing more and not doing it well." "Clearly, our core of commercial airplanes and defense systems will stay with Boeing for the long haul, but there might be some things on the periphery that we can manage more efficiently, or that simply distract us from our main objective here."
To date, Starliner has set Boeing back a hefty $1.85 billion in total losses. According to its $4.2 billion contract with NASA, Boeing retains ownership of the Starliner spacecraft, with NASA functioning as a client, purchasing round-trip missions to transfer crew and cargo to the ISS. Since Boeing was contracted by NASA a decade ago, the company has failed to carry out a single successful operational mission to the space station, while its competitor, SpaceX, has sent nine astronaut teams to the ISS.
After years of delays, Boeing finally launched a crewed test flight to the ISS but it turned out to be a disaster. The CST-100 Starliner launched to the ISS on June 5, carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunni Williams. Throughout its journey to the ISS, five of the spacecraft’s thrusters malfunctioned and the spacecraft developed five helium leaks, one of which was identified before liftoff. The spacecraft remained attached to the space station for three months as ground teams debated whether to bring the crew back aboard Starliner or not.
Team members ran tests on the ground in an attempt to determine the root cause of the thruster malfunction, eventually deciding to send an uncrewed Starliner back to Earth and retrieve the two astronauts aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft. The spacecraft detached from the ISS on September 6, leaving its crew behind. Wilmore and Williams, along with SpaceX’s Crew-9, will return to Earth in February 2025, having spent eight months on board the ISS instead of the planned eight-day mission.
The unsuccessful test flight led NASA to postpone Starliner’s next opportunity to launch to the ISS. NASA had hoped that Starliner would launch its first operational mission by early next year, but instead opted for SpaceX’s crew capsule for two missions in 2025. Once again, NASA found itself relying on its more dependable commercial partner, SpaceX, leaving Boeing in doubt about the future of its faulty spacecraft.
As such, it seems wise for the corporation to ponder exiting the exhausting venture that has drained it of millions and tarnished its respected reputation in the space industry. When NASA allocated its Commercial Crew Program contracts in 2014, Boeing was a prominent force in the industry, while SpaceX was a relatively newcomer. In 1969, three astronauts embarked on a Moon mission as part of the Apollo 11, propelled by a Boeing-built first-stage booster for the Saturn V rocket. When it was initially conceived in 2010, Starliner was inspired by Boeing’s history with the Apollo mission, but the spacecraft failed to live up to its legacy, and may signal the end of Boeing's space aspirations.
In light of Boeing's financial losses and unsuccessful test flights, the corporation is contemplating a potential sale of its NASA-related ventures, such as the Starliner spacecraft. Looking to the future, newly appointed CEO Kelly Ortberg suggests that Boeing may consider divesting from certain space-related projects to focus on its core commercial airplanes and defense systems.
