You need it from your rivals. Even before aircraft manufacturer Boeing wanted to send two astronauts into orbit with its Starliner spaceship for the first time last night – and a technical problem threw a spanner in the works – Elon Musk twisted the knife in the gaping wound once again. “Although Boeing got $4.2 billion to build a space capsule and SpaceX only $2.6 billion, SpaceX finished four years earlier,” he posted on X. “Boeing has too many managers with no technical knowledge.”
The billion-dollar contract Musk refers to in his challenging tweet was signed by the NASA space agency almost ten years ago. By hiring both SpaceX and Boeing, NASA opened the door to commercial spaceflight. After the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986 and the Columbia accident in 2003, for a long time it only had the Atlantis and the Endeavor left. When they were retired in 2011, NASA no longer had the political or financial strength to build a successor itself.
Rebel became the market leader
NASA has since been paying private players for the use of their rockets, and not only that: it also gives them money to develop those rockets. The rebellious SpaceX was thus saved from bankruptcy at the last minute in 2008. SpaceX then seemed a much bigger gamble than the experienced aircraft manufacturer Boeing, which at that time was still a fixture in the enormous American military-industrial complex.
Today, almost ten years later, the roles are completely reversed. Partly thanks to the partially reusable Falcon rocket, the much cheaper SpaceX quickly became the price breaker on the commercial and military satellite launch market. SpaceX outpaced other players, such as Ariane, Lockheed Martin and Boeing.
Thirteen-zero
In fact, until recently there was no real competition for manned flights to the International Space Station. Since 2020, SpaceX has carried out no fewer than 13 manned space missions with its Dragon. In doing so, it managed to launch almost 50 people into space – both state-paid astronauts and paying private customers, such as American billionaire Jared Isaacman.
At Boeing, the counter for manned flights is still at zero, after years of delays, technical setbacks and significant budget overruns. While rival SpaceX was stringing together successes, Boeing’s space capsule had problems with the software, the propulsion system, the rockets, the parachutes and the wiring of the engines. As a result, the Starliner project, which was counting on a first manned space flight in 2018, is now $1.5 billion more expensive than anticipated.
Sukkelstraatje
The malaise with the Starliner is exemplary of the troubled situation that Boeing is in. Problems and scandals also follow one another in his aircraft department. After a door panel came loose from a 737 Max in mid-flight on an Alaska Airlines flight earlier this year, CEO David Calhoun announced his resignation. And this while the same Calhoun took the reins of Boeing after the crash of two other 737 Max aircraft in 2018 and 2019, which killed 346 people.
In short, the troubled aircraft manufacturer could use a success in space. Not only to catch up with rival SpaceX, but also to boost its reputation. Because although the setbacks with the Starliner are in principle separate from the troubles with the aircraft – the two departments are led by a completely different management team – they essentially suffer from similar shortcomings.
In short: Boeing always wanted to work as cheaply as possible. As a result, certain safety tests were not carried out properly and problems were discovered far too late. It is not without reason that other Boeing space projects also had to deal with mechanical failures and a derailing budget, such as the Space Launch System. That launch system must provide the main rocket for the Artemis program, with which NASA wants to put people on the moon for the first time since the Apollo era.
Competition is raging
A successful launch of the Starliner would also be a major breakthrough for NASA. Because if there were a second provider of human spaceflight, the agency would no longer be dependent on one company, namely SpaceX. That would increase competition, reduce costs and accelerate innovation.
Besides Boeing, other companies are clamoring to join the commercial space race. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is currently developing a lunar lander for the Artemis program, and Sierra Space plans to fly cargo for NASA to the ISS space station this year with its Dream Chaser. Sierra Space is also working on a manned version of Chaser, hoping to win a contract in NASA’s next round of human spaceflights.
Correction: A previous version of this article did not mention Endeavor as a NASA space shuttle. He was ‘retired’ along with the Atlantis in 2011.
