Boeing‘s Starliner is a spacecraft suitable for human use, created to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station. Boeing initiated work on the capsule back in 2014, securing a $4.2 billion contract with NASA through the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
NASA also picked SpaceX for the task, granting Elon Musk’s company $2.6 billion to build its Crew Dragon capsule.
“The entirety of the Commercial Crew Program was very much a new venture,” remarked Caleb Henry, head of research at Quilty Space. “Before this, NASA mainly relied on its internal engineering expertise to transport humans to the space station.”
Henry noted that the program enabled NASA to shift “some of those responsibilities to the private sector.”
“There was some hesitancy in Congress towards this sort of approach,” he mentioned. “It was only due to Boeing entering the competition that Congress and consequently, NASA, felt confident enough to proceed with this initiative.”
In the past decade, Boeing has faced challenges in fulfilling the six missions it’s obligated to conduct with NASA.
Out of the almost $5 billion Boeing has obtained for developing Starliner so far, the company has allocated $1.5 billion to address delays. Boeing recently initiated its final test, a pivotal manned mission, which must be accomplished for NASA to endorse Starliner for commencing operational missions.
Meanwhile, SpaceX has executed more than a dozen manned missions to space, launching both NASA astronauts and private individuals since 2020.
View the video to delve into the hurdles that Boeing has encountered with its Starliner initiative and what lies ahead for its eagerly anticipated capsule.
