Boeing bleeds another $125M on Starliner program, bringing total losses to $1.6B

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Boeing Starliner docked to ISS

Image Credits: NASA (opens in a new window)

Boeing has lost another $125 million on its Starliner astronaut capsule program due to delays in its first crewed flight test, which was supposed to last just eight days — and has now been on orbit for almost two months. 

The aerospace giant has lost $1.6 billion on Starliner, including the $125 million, which was reported to regulators in a quarterly filing. While the company was awarded a massive $4.2 billion contract to accelerate Starliner development in 2014, it was structured as a “fixed-price” model. That means any cost overruns are solely the contractor’s responsibility. 

SpaceX was also awarded a fixed-price contract for astronaut transportation services for $2.6 billion at the same time and has been fulfilling its contracted obligations for the space agency with the Crew Dragon capsule since 2020.

But while SpaceX’s crewed services have soared — to include missions for both NASA and private customers — Boeing has struggled. Under the two contracts, NASA said it would buy six crewed launches each from Boeing and SpaceX, but due to Starliner delays, NASA has purchased an additional eight missions from SpaceX. The Elon Musk-led company is now the only provider of astronaut transportation services for the space agency. 

Serious issues discovered during an uncrewed test flight in 2019 pushed back the date of another test by two years. The company had a moment of brief victory in 2022, when that uncrewed mission was finally successful, but additional problems discovered afterward pushed the crewed flight test to this June. 

That mission, which launched on June 5, delivered NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the ISS. But it didn’t go entirely smoothly; a number of issues, including malfunctioning thrusters, have led Boeing and NASA officials to delay the return of the two astronauts for weeks.

This loss and others has made Boeing executives reticent to take on more fixed-price contracts in the future: “Based on the lessons that we’ve learned in taking on these fixed-price development programs, we have maintained contracting discipline for all future opportunities,” outgoing CEO Dave Calhoun said on an earnings call.

It’s likely that Boeing will incur further losses in the program. NASA has already said it would push back the first Starliner mission to no earlier than August 2025, yet another delay for the program. In an absolute worst-case scenario, major modifications to Starliner’s propulsion system could be very costly.

As of right now, Starliner does not have a return date to Earth. The agency said it was aiming to wrap up a final readiness review in the first week of August and make a decision on the return date at that point. A thruster test conducted on orbit was promising, however, with NASA saying in a July 30 update that the preliminary results showed that the thrusters are back to “preflight levels” of performance. 

Exclusive: The CEO of Boeing’s satellite maker Millennium Space has quietly left the company

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render of Millennium Space Systems satellite on orbit

Image Credits: Millennium Space Systems (opens in a new window)

Boeing’s satellite maker Millennium Space Systems will soon have a new CEO. Jason Kim, the executive who held the position for nearly four years, has departed the company, TechCrunch has learned. 

Boeing acquired Millennium Space Systems in 2018. Since that point, the company has scored mega-deals with the U.S. Department of Defense to build satellites to help warfighters track missiles and other threats. Millennium also successfully executed a “responsive space” mission for the U.S. Space Force; that mission, called Victus Nox, sought to establish a new record for the time it takes to put a defense payload into orbit. 

Millennium and its partner for the mission, Firefly Space, accomplished just that: Last September, the two firms were able to integrate the Millennium-built satellite with Firefly’s launch vehicle after 58 hours. The satellite was operational just 37 hours after launch. 

“We are grateful to Jason for his leadership, growing the portfolio and evolving the company to a workforce of nearly 1,000, and wish him the best in the next phase of his career,” a Millennium spokesperson said in a comment. “We anticipate announcing a CEO in the near term who can carry forward Millennium Space Systems’ spirit and culture of rapid delivery. Millennium Space Systems’ mission has not changed, and the team continues their unwavering focus on customer commitments.” 

Kim did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment. Kim was not a founder of Millennium Space Systems but was appointed around two years after Boeing acquired the company. Its founder and former CEO, Stan Dubyn, led the company for 17 years. Prior to Millennium, Kim held leadership positions at Raytheon’s space division and Northrop Grumman. He also served in the U.S. Air Force. 

The move comes at a time of uncertainty for Boeing’s space businesses more broadly. The aerospace giant has come under the microscope for its bungled Starliner mission, which experienced technical problems shortly before docking with the International Space Station, leading NASA officials to decide that the spacecraft should return to Earth without astronauts onboard. However, the reason for Kim’s departure is unclear. There are other executive vacancies in the industry right now — including at Firefly, whose CEO departed just days after Payload Space published a report alleging he was under investigation at the company.

Boeing bleeds another $125M on Starliner program, bringing total losses to $1.6B

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Boeing Starliner docked to ISS

Image Credits: NASA (opens in a new window)

Boeing has lost another $125 million on its Starliner astronaut capsule program due to delays in its first crewed flight test, which was supposed to last just eight days — and has now been on orbit for almost two months. 

The aerospace giant has lost $1.6 billion on Starliner, including the $125 million, which was reported to regulators in a quarterly filing. While the company was awarded a massive, $4.2 billion contract to accelerate Starliner development in 2014, it was structured as a “fixed-price” model. That means any cost overruns are solely the contractor’s responsibility. 

SpaceX was also awarded a fixed-price contract for astronaut transportation services for $2.6 billion at the same time, and has been fulfilling its contracted obligations for the space agency with the Crew Dragon capsule since 2020.

But while SpaceX’s crewed services have soared — to include missions for both NASA and private customers — Boeing has struggled. Under the two contracts, NASA said it would buy six crewed launches each from Boeing and SpaceX, but due to Starliner delays, NASA has purchased an additional eight missions from SpaceX. The Elon Musk-led company is now the only provider of astronaut transportation services for the space agency. 

Serious issues discovered during an uncrewed test flight in 2019 pushed back the date of another test by two years. The company had a moment of brief victory in 2022, when that uncrewed mission was finally successful, but additional problems discovered afterward pushed the crewed flight test to this June. 

That mission, which launched on June 5, delivered NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the ISS. But it didn’t go entirely smoothly; a number of issues, including malfunctioning thrusters, have led Boeing and NASA officials to delay the return of the two astronauts for weeks.

This loss and others has made Boeing executives reticent to take on more fixed-price contracts in the future: “Based on the lessons that we’ve learned in taking on these fixed-price development programs, we have maintained contracting discipline for all future opportunities,” outgoing CEO Dave Calhoun said on an earnings call.

It’s likely that Boeing will incur further losses in the program. NASA has already said it would push back the first Starliner mission to no earlier than August 2025, yet another delay for the program. In an absolute worst-case scenario, major modifications to Starliner’s propulsion system could be very costly.

As of right now, Starliner does not have a return date to Earth. The agency said it was aiming to wrap up a final readiness review in the first week of August and make a decision on the return date at that point. A thruster test conducted on orbit was promising, however, with NASA saying in a July 30 update that the preliminary results showed that the thrusters are back to “preflight levels” of performance. 

ULA Boeing Starliner

Boeing Starliner launch delayed until May 17

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ULA Boeing Starliner

Image Credits: Boeing (opens in a new window)

Update: The Starliner mission will not move forward until no earlier than May 17, NASA announced. The long delay is to ensure launch provider United Launch Alliance can roll the rocket back to the Vertical Integration Facility hangar to replace a valve.

Boeing’s Starliner launch tonight has been postponed “out of an abundance of caution” scarcely two hours before the historic liftoff. The scrub is reportedly due to an issue with the oxygen relief valve on the Atlas V rocket’s upper stage.

There are backup launch opportunities on May 7, 10 and 11. After years of delays and over $1 billion in cost overruns, the mission is set to be Boeing’s first attempt to transport astronauts to the International Space Station.

Once the issue is resolved with the upper stage, the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V will carry the CST-100 Starliner capsule to orbit along with the two onboard astronauts — Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams — from Florida’s Cape Canaveral at 10:34 p.m. local time Monday evening. The mission also marks the first time ULA’s Atlas will carry crew. The rocket boasts a success rate of 100% across 99 missions. (ULA is a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.)

The astronauts would now dock at the station at the earliest on Thursday, where they would remain for at least eight days. The two astronauts will return to Earth in the capsule no earlier than May 16.

If all goes to plan, Boeing will be able to finally certify its Starliner for human transportation and begin fulfilling the terms of its $4.2 billion NASA astronaut taxi contract. That contract, under the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, was awarded in 2014. Elon Musk’s SpaceX was also granted a contract under that program, for its Crew Dragon capsule, and has been transporting astronauts to and from the ISS since 2020.

While SpaceX has soared in its human transportation services, flying over a dozen crewed missions and also racking up private flights with Axiom Space and billionaire Jared Isaacman, Boeing has fallen sharply behind. The aerospace giant originally attempted an uncrewed mission to the ISS in 2019, though that failed due to technical issues; further problems delayed the next attempt, until it was finally accomplished in 2022.

As of last year, Boeing had rung up $1.5 billion in charges due to the long-delayed Starliner program.

But despite the technical snags, both NASA and Boeing have stressed their commitment to the mission and to the safety of the two astronauts.

“The lives of our crew members, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, are at stake,” NASA’s associate administrator Jim Free said in a press conference late last month. “We don’t take that lightly at all.”

Indeed, for NASA, a successful mission will bring the agency one step closer to having two operational transportation providers, bringing critical redundancy to the Commercial Crew program. Per Boeing’s contract, it is on the line for six astronaut missions.

Musk took to X, the social media platform he also owns, to comment on the mission, noting that “although Boeing got $4.2 billion to develop an astronaut capsule and SpaceX only got $2.6 billion, SpaceX finished 4 years sooner.”

Boeing, NASA indefinitely delay crewed Starliner launch

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Boeing Starliner Spacecraft Prepares for Orbital Flight Test-2

Image Credits: Paul Hennessy/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

If you’ve been looking forward to seeing Boeing’s Starliner capsule carry two astronauts to the International Space Station for the first time, you’ll have to wait a bit longer.

The mission, which has already been beset by issues with both the rocket and helium tanks, is now delayed indefinitely, NASA said in a statement late Tuesday. The agency had been targeting a May 25 launch date.

“The team has been in meetings for two consecutive days, assessing flight rationale, system performance, and redundancy,” the space agency said. “There is still forward work in these areas, and the next possible launch opportunity is still being discussed. NASA will share more details once we have a clearer path forward.”

There is little else to go on at the moment other than that statement, so it’s unclear whether the helium leak issue in the spacecraft’s propulsion system — which was identified a few days before the CST-100 Starliner was due to launch on May 17 — is the sole cause for the ongoing delay.

The Starliner program as a whole has been delayed for years, but it seemed the constant technical issues were finally coming to an end when Boeing and NASA announced that the mission would go forward on May 6. That launch was scrubbed due to an issue with the ULA Atlas rocket, and was rescheduled for May 17. However, on May 14, Boeing said the launch had slipped due to the helium leak issue; it was rescheduled for May 25. And now that date is off the table. 

Boeing and NASA have provided few other updates on the mission, and have not held any press conferences since the launch was scrubbed at the beginning of the month. 

There is a lot riding on this first crewed mission — chiefly, the lives of the two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams — so it only makes sense for NASA and Boeing to be as cautious as possible when it comes to technical issues. This mission also marks the final test that Boeing must complete before NASA certifies the capsule to start ferrying astronauts to and from the ISS on a more regular schedule. 

Only then can Boeing start to fulfill the terms of its multibillion-dollar astronaut taxi contract it was awarded in 2014. SpaceX was also granted a contract for astronaut transportation services, and it has been doing so since 2020 with its Dragon capsule.