Boeing is facing new challenges over problems with its CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, which failed to return two NASA astronauts to Earth this year due to various malfunctions. Project costs keep rising, as the capsule returned to Earth without a crew. According to SpaceNews, the company recorded a loss of $250 million in the third quarter of 2024, adding another $125 million written off in the previous quarter. The total cost of the Starliner program has already reached $1.85 billion.
Although Boeing has been working on the spacecraft for more than a decade, it has not been able to successfully deliver and return astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) yet. Starliner loses out to a direct competitor, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, which has been successful in its missions. Therefore, the future of the project remains in doubt, and Boeing is in no hurry to reveal a clear plan of action.
“We’ve got some tough contracts and there’s no magic bullet for that,” said CEO Kelly Ortberg, who became Boeing’s chief executive in August. He emphasized that abandoning Starliner is impossible: “Even if we wanted to, I don’t think we can walk away from these contracts.”
Besides the problems with Starliner, Boeing has other challenges: a crisis in the commercial aviation sector and massive strikes by workers. The company’s combined quarterly losses reached $6 billion. Ortberg assured investors of plans to fundamentally change the culture: “It’s a big spacecraft that needs time to change course, but we can come back strong.”
Meanwhile, NASA is refocusing on its partnership with SpaceX and will use Crew Dragon for two future missions to the ISS, although one of them was previously planned to be done with Starliner.
“Clearly, our core of commercial airplanes and defense are going to stay with The Boeing Company in the long run, but there’s probably some things on the fringe that we can be more efficient with or that just distract us from our main goals.”
Boeing finds itself in a situation where the future fate of Starliner looks uncertain, and the company needs to find ways to solve both internal and external problems.
