Boeing's Starliner future uncertain as NASA weighs next steps
- Reference: 1742482026
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/03/20/boeing_starliner_whats_next/
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Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore had journeyed to the ISS on board the Boeing Starliner as part of the vehicle's first crewed test flight. It did not go well. While the duo managed to dock with the ISS, various concerns with Starliner – notably around the thrusters – ended with Williams and Wilmore becoming part of Crew-9 and Starliner returning to Earth empty.
More than six months later, the future of Starliner is unclear. During the [1]post-splashdown news conference for Crew-9, the manager of NASA's commercial crew program, Steve Stich, said that Boeing's new CEO, Kelly Ortberg, remained "committed to Starliner." However, longstanding problems dog the project.
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Boeing has incurred enormous losses due to Starliner's difficulties. As of February's financial results, the company has bled over $2 billion, which is unlikely to stop until the spacecraft finally becomes operational.
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It was all supposed to be so different a decade ago when NASA [5]awarded contracts to Boeing and SpaceX. Back then, Boeing was regarded as slightly ahead of SpaceX, and 2017 was set as the date for the first crewed flight.
As it turned out, SpaceX bested Boeing by several years. Back in 2020, it launched the first astronauts in a US-built spacecraft from American soil in almost a decade, and has since continued launching astronauts on both private flights and ISS crew rotations.
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Things did not pan out so well for Boeing. It managed the first launch of the CST-100 Starliner in 2019 – without a crew – [7]but it went badly wrong . A faulty mission elapsed timer meant the spacecraft thought it was further along in the mission than it actually was, so it burnt through its fuel trying to find a space station that wasn't there. More problems occurred at the separation of the spacecraft's service module (SM), which could have sent the SM bouncing off the Crew Module, among other issues.
The uncrewed test was successfully reflown, but more delays pushed the launch of a crew to 2024.
[8]Crew-9 splashes down while NASA floats along with Trump and Musk nonsense
[9]SpaceX Dragon pod arrives at ISS to finally pick up stranded Boeing astronaut pair
[10]Boeing warns SLS staff that job cuts could be on the way
[11]Boeing, Boeing, burned: Over half a billion dollars by Starliner in 2024
According to Stich, the problems seen on the first crewed mission are still being worked out. More testing is planned over the summer with some alternative seals to replace those that leaked.
Stich did not indicate whether NASA would repeat the crewed mission. He also did not confirm if the agency might prefer an uncrewed Starliner flight first to verify that the fixes have worked. This approach would reduce risk to astronauts and help avoid another extended stay like that of Williams and Wilmore if issues arise again.
The problem then becomes one of timing. Crew-11 is due to launch in the July-August time frame, with Crew-12 following around March 2026. Boeing has yet to share any updates – its last [12]Starliner post was all about the landing of the uncrewed spacecraft last year, but getting operational in 2026 means only a few years of the ISS program will remain before a new destination is secured.
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Thus there is a real chance that Boeing might throw in the towel in the coming months and extract itself from an increasingly expensive contract. Unlike with its Space Launch System work, the aerospace giant is on the hook for the ballooning Starliner costs.
For its part, NASA would like Boeing to succeed with Starliner. The agency is acutely aware that having to depend on a single vendor – SpaceX – for US transportation to and from the ISS is inherently risky. Having two vendors gives NASA the redundancy it craves. It could be argued that the Starliner woes underscore this concern.
Stich said that following the next Starliner flight, "we really need to get Boeing into a crewed rotation." He did not, however, give a date when that might happen. ®
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[7] https://www.theregister.com/2020/02/10/more_software_errors_beset_boeings_calamity_capsule/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/19/crew9_mission_misinformation/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/17/crew10_iss/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/10/boeing_warns_sls_staff_that/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/05/starliner_boeing_losses/
[12] https://starlinerupdates.com/starliner-arrives-safely-back-on-earth/
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[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
two weeks notice
@WanderingHaggis these twenty-five year old gentlemen would like you to show them to your comms room, hand them your work badge and then leave.
Re: two weeks notice
Twenty-five, year-old, gentlemen. Sounds about right, mentally speaking, for Chump and his pals.
Re: two weeks notice
I'm not sure any of them is even as old as 25 and they certainly are not gentlemen.
Re: I'd hesitate too
it's really what the NEW Congress wants, and that would be RESULTS under budget, NOT continuous cost overruns and delays.
And hopefully it will REMAIN this way. I'm sick of my tax money feeding the BLOAT, the waste, the fraud, and the outright abuse!
Re: I'd hesitate too
As mentioned in the article, Starliner is not a costs plus contract so it costs you, the American tax payer, nothing extra.
Boeing is the one paying.
Re: I'd hesitate too
"Boeing is the one paying."
I have no doubt that behind the scenes this is not the case. The overrun will get run through the system and get tacked on to another project.
Re: I'd hesitate too
Pretty sure they were given SLS as a pork barrel project to cover up losses on another project. So they will definitely get another secret project to make up for this one, and for the various airliner "difficulties".
Possibly this is how we ultimately get flying cars
Re: I'd hesitate too
Sunk costs are lost; time to cut future losses.
At this point I think Boeing are only there as the token "competition" as the capitalists believe that competition is good.
That does mean that they're now in the role that SpaceX had when this all started.
I hope they keep pushing as we wouldn't want SpaceX to get too comfortable, but if I were a Boeing shareholder I'd have some serious concerns.
If I was a Boeing shareholder I'd have given serious thought to selling my holding, even at a loss. With the Trump-dump in US markets, there are better bargains to be had.
Boeing needs to learn from SpaceX's mistakes and failures
If Boeing were to adopt the "move fast and break things" approach, rather than the "drag things out and get that 'cost overrun' revenue" approach, they might be flying astronauts on a regular basis.
I suspect Boing, being a large and old company, has the typical problems + attitudes of a large + old company.
SpaceX is STILL a YOUNG company, with fresh ideas and no need for bureaucracy, internal OR external.
Something to think about...
Re: Boeing needs to learn from SpaceX's mistakes and failures
SpaceX is in a unique situation with Starlink.
Starlink is paying for all that broken stuff. If a Starlink launch succeeds, they have more revenue-generating satellites in orbit. If it doesn't, they "got more where that came from" and it's a reason to keep launching & trying.
Every Boeing launch comes directly out of the bottom line.
Starship is in the same situation, but it's got a much bigger possible payoff if it succeeds than mere taxi service to ISS, so every semi-failed Starship launch is an investment.
Edit: however, they're finding out that successful re-entry is hard. NASA/Boeing already knew that, so they didn't want to risk astronauts last time.
Re: Boeing needs to learn from SpaceX's mistakes and failures
>SpaceX is in a unique situation with Starlink.
It is interesting that the only way that a move fast and break things, hyper-dynamic Silicon Valley focussed company can actually be viable is to be a vertical manufacture where you are your own best customer.
It's as if Amazon decided to build its own airfreighters and electric delivery trucks
Re: Boeing needs to learn from SpaceX's mistakes and failures
What I understand, as an outsider, is that Boeing was doing great until they "acquired" McDonnell-Douglas, and then everything went into the shitter. That said, I'm forced to agree with you that SpaceX seems more able to take risks and innovate than Boeing.
Boeing was regarded as slightly ahead of SpaceX
No, Boeing was regarded as the "sure thing" and nobody knew why NASA was wasting money on those SpaceX people. There was no "slightly" about it.
Speaking of SpaceX, tomorrow is [1]3/21 blastoff day in Titusville.
Last time, SpaceX brought out a flown Dragon capsule.
Boeing could bring out a flown Starliner capsule but I guess they don't want to clean all the rotten fruit off afterwards.
[1] http://321day.space
"Boeing has incurred enormous losses due to Starliner's difficulties."
Erm, hasn't Boeing incurred enormous losses due to Boeing's difficulties building anything that works?
Boeings issues can be traced back to the merger but I think the more fundamental issue was as senior management and execs were replaced by Harvard MBA types who knew little about the industry technology and focused their efforts on the bottom line, shareholders and their own bonuses at the expense of all else. We have seen this time and time again when supposed corporate experts, who know everything there is to know about running a business, come in and destroy a company due to arrogance and self belief they are Godlike in their ability to pilot a company. But somewhere along the line they lose sight of the fundamental reason a manufacturing company, any manufacturing company exists, to make money by making something that customers want to buy at a price that is higher than the cost to make it.
Unfortunately so many of these people believe there is a framework, a method, a play book, that if you just follow it, trust in the system it will automatically generate profits and growth. So you have the Jack Welch school of thought, just keep firing the "bottom" 10% every year and hey presto, your employees become superstars.
Or you follow some case studies where a good percentage of companies that did this that or the other, reorganized management, introduced policies etc. and just like that were successful. So guess what, now your new shiny executive team follow that process because that's what worked before. It's Gartner on steroids.
It's not that these methods are bad or incorrect, but it's the application of them in the specific instance that is crucial. Boeing exists in a very unique environment, there are not many comparable to look at for reference, so you end up with rote unthinking application of methods that don't actually make a lot of sense and miss the fundamental statement of the company, make aerospace products that customers want to buy/use.
Back in the day when I was getting my Prince II certification the one thing our instructor beat into us was every project is different and the Prince II methodology should be applied appropriately and at the right level of verboseness that makes sense for the project you are working on. Pity these exec didn't get that memo.
I'd hesitate too
I'm sure Boeing is also worried about politics after all what NASA wants and what Elon wants may be two different things but silly me there are no conflicts of interest at the top.