Enlarge / A Starliner spacecraft positioned atop an Atlas V rocket prior to its uncrewed test mission in 2022. (credit: Boeing)
A decade from now, this October marks a significant milestone when NASA revealed that Boeing, one of its most seasoned partners, secured the majority of funding intended to reduce the agency’s heavy dependence on Russia for transporting astronauts to and from low-Earth orbit.
Boeing was awarded a substantial $4.2 billion by NASA aimed at finalizing the development of the Starliner vehicle and conducting at least two, with possibilities for up to six, crewed missions transporting personnel between Earth and the International Space Station (ISS). In comparison, SpaceX received $2.6 billion for essentially a similar range of services.
Fast forward ten years, the Starliner initiative finds itself facing uncertain challenges as Boeing has been informed that it will not carry out the nasa-spacecraft-has-a-puzzling-companion/” title=”Asteroid visited by NASA spacecraft has a ‘puzzling’ companion”>spacecraft’s initial crewed flight test with astronauts aboard as planned. On Saturday, NASA officially confirmed that Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams—who launched using the Starliner capsule on June 5—will instead return home via a SpaceX Crew Dragon vessel. To put it plainly, NASA is lacking confidence in Boeing’s spacecraft due to numerous thruster malfunctions and helium leaks encountered during its journey towards the ISS.
Read 38 remaining paragraphs | Comments
