After suffering several defeats on Earth over the past few years, Boeing is hoping it can achieve a much-needed victory outside Earth’s atmosphere. Boeing plans to launch a Starliner capsule within a few hours, which will take two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). It will smell new – the car has never transported people before.
The stakes are high: For Boeing, the Starliner represents an opportunity to demonstrate its ability to safely carry people into orbit and fend off growing criticism of its quality control procedures. For NASA, this is an opportunity to reduce its reliance on SpaceX for space missions and add a new model to its space taxi fleet.
How did this happen?
Ten years ago, NASA awarded contracts to Boeing and SpaceX worth up to $6.8 billion to replace the retired space shuttle program and fly astronauts to the International Space Station. Elon Musk’s company is the only one to have completed this task so far:
- SpaceX has completed nine crewed flights for NASA since 2020, not to mention four private flights with astronauts.
- Boeing, which has been plagued by a series of technical problems, has made only two test flights of the Starliner, neither of which carried humans. This turned out to be a good decision: During one test, the spacecraft’s on-board computer was turned off for 11 hours, wreaking havoc.
- In total, the Starliner program was delayed for seven years and cost an additional $1.5 billion. More than I expected budget.
Even if Starliner impresses on its inaugural crewed mission, the benefits of the space taxi business are unclear to Boeing. The International Space Station is scheduled to retire in 2030, meaning Boeing can only fly a maximum of six more missions for NASA. Furthermore, production problems for the Boeing 737 MAX began with a door seal blown in January of this year. -Resulted in cash flow of $3.9 billion. in the first quarter, raising questions about Boeing’s ability to finance its commercial space ambitions.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson is confident about the Starliner: “It’s a clean spacecraft that’s ready to launch.”
The Starliner is scheduled to take off on Tuesday at 4:34 a.m. Polish time from Cape Canaveral. You can watch the launch here:
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