Why It Took Boeing A Decade To Launch NASA Astronauts On Starliner

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Boeing’s Starliner is a human-grade space capsule designed to take astronauts to and from the International Space Station. Boeing began work on the capsule in 2014, when it signed a $4.2 billion contract with NASA under the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. NASA also selected SpaceX for the job, giving Elon Musk’s company $2.6 billion to develop its Crew Dragon capsule. In the decade since, Boeing has struggled to deliver on the six missions it’s contracted to fly with NASA amid a myriad of delays and technical issues. SpaceX, meanwhile, has completed over a dozen crewed missions to space since 2020, launching both NASA astronauts and private citizens.

In early June, Boeing launched its last test, a milestone crewed mission, which it needs to complete before NASA can certify Starliner to begin operational missions. Watch the video to learn more about the obstacles that Boeing has faced with its Starliner project and what the future may hold for its long-awaited capsule.

Chapters:
0:00 - Introduction
3:00 - Legacy space player
6:13 - Delays and hurdles
9:44 - SpaceX competition
11:27 - Future of Starliner

Produced and edited by: Magdalena Petrova
Supervising producer: Jeniece Pettitt
Additional footage: NASA, Getty Images

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Why It Took Boeing A Decade To Launch NASA Astronauts On Starliner
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Boeing is too profit focused. No more "fixed price contracts"? That just means no contract for Boeing. SpaceX and other companies will just be eating it's lunch.

xiphoid
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Two big difference between SpaceX and Boeing. One's intent on developing a launch vehicle that could take people to Mars (as ambitious as that sounds), while the other one has a main goal of making money. I'm sure there are lots of smart people on both companies, but leadership and vision matters a lot.

jez
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Starliner's June 5th launch suffered from serious post-launch issues, including the failure of five thrusters and numerous helium leaks. They only reason they were able to dock at the ISS was because they were able to fix some (but not all) of the thrusters in-flight, forcing them to perform a manual docking. If I were NASA, I'd be requiring another test flight before certifying it, because they still have not demonstrated a successful mission without major in-flight technical failures.

guspaz
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I don't feel this video identified the root cause of why Boeing is delayed and overbudget. The video title: "Why It Took Boeing A Decade suggested it would explain why they are delayed, however I don't think identifying valve issues and highlighting how SpaceX did it so much faster and cheaper, explains why.

jkallen
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Boeing isn't the same company anymore.

bernob
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The problem is Boeing has gotten too close to the Government and gotten comfortable knowing they can get more money basically whenever they want instead of a fixed amount to develop something. This creates a situation where the company has zero incentive to be quick or efficient in its design process. Spacex on the other hand had a fixed amount and knew if they couldn't get it to work they wouldn't get any handouts and so they were actually required to be fast and effective and deliver a good product the first time.

ghostrunner
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When a MBA is in charge of an Engineering company, you will have problems.

JPurvis
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Left unmentioned in this report is the fact that despite Boeing's contract being "fixed price", it's clear that Boeing for one—and quite possibly NASA themselves—were counting on this "fixed" nature being flexible as usual. Boeing asked NASA for an additional $279 million beyond what they were being paid, and the US taxpayers paid Boeing that extra $279 million, courtesy of an obliging NASA. The only reason this didn't continue is because the Inspector General caught wind of it and put a stop to it. Boeing didn't even possess the grace to silently let it drop, as they wrote a thoroughly pi-sy letter explaining why they should be allowed to continue getting paid additional money regardless of the contract being "fixed price."

Asterra
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Until the 1970s Boeing was an engineering focused company with engineers and aviators making up the majority of management. Emphasis was placed on providing quality, safe products and customer satisfaction. In the 1970s management began to be dominated by MBAs and accountants. Emphasis changed to short term profits and share value. This only became worse when McDonald Douglas merged with Boeing.

jimschachtschneider
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Fixed price is how all contracts should be

ClassyMonkey
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Boeing was too preoccupied trying to put on gigantic engines on the 737 that wasn't designed for them.

albear
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The launch cadence for SpaceX so far this year is currently a launch every 2.7 DAYS. Last year's cadence was a launch every 3.8 days. Practice makes perfect.

materiallistprollc
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Boeing is way too profit driven. Several billions overbudget and 7 years behind schedule is unacceptable, and that's in addition to the SLS moon rocket being $6 billion over budget and 6 years behind schedule

RyanChan
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When you’re composed of companies that basically enjoyed a monopoly for so long, there’s just no competition to stay sharp.

UberHypnotoad
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How was the gas leak going? Please make sure those astronauts come back to earth safely.

LouiseChong-xkxp
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The only reason why Boeing doesn't want fixed contracts is because they have less freedom to cook the books.

hierox
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How is Boeing/ULA suppose to be a viable competitor if its launchers aren't reusable it seems like that alone makes it uncompetitive against SpaceX

Otter-Destruction
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Let's be real here, SpaceX is gonna go places far more faster than these guys wish they could do in a lifetime

somewhiteguy
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Overruns means profits to shareholders, and they only care about those.

richardc
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Interesting mention of flying to commercial space stations. With Crew Dragon being $55 million per seat and Starliner doing the exact same job for $90 million what fool would choose Starliner?

gregkelly