NASA and Boeing strongly disagreed about the safety of the Boeing Starliner.
Boeing was convinced that the Starliner was in good enough condition to bring the astronauts home, and NASA strongly disagreed. NASA thought that Boeing was being wildly irresponsible.
NASA decided to overrule Boeing and have Elon Musk’s Space X Crew Dragon bring the two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, back in February.
There are five more ISS crewed missions scheduled from 2025 to early 2027. The Space station should be retired in 2031-2032.
Any issues on the unmanned return of Starliner will definitely mean the end of Starliner.
Getting the Boeing Starliner certified for manned usage seems like a 2026 timeline at the earliest. All of the costs getting to certification will be paid by Boeing. NASA would pay Boeing about $360 million for each four person flight. If Boeing only gets to fly three manned flights from 2027-2030, then the likely certification costs will prevent Boeing from making profits while the ISS exists. Boeing will not be able to recover about $2 billion in extra costs beyond the $4.2 billion fixed price contract.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.
