NASA eyes plan to get Boeing back on track as SpaceX alternative

Boston Globe

19-03-2025

The return of NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on SpaceX's Dragon capsule 'shows how important it is to have two different crew transportation systems,' Stich added.
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His comments were the most bullish in months about the troubled Boeing program. But a question he and other NASA officials stopped short of answering Tuesday is who would foot the bill for such an extensive test campaign, or even the extent of the company's commitment.
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A Boeing spokeswoman declined to comment on Stich's remarks or elaborate on its plans for Starliner.
Bloomberg has reported that the US planemaker was weighing options for the money-losing program as chief executive Kelly Ortberg looks to prune businesses that are either too niche or have little chance of being commercially viable. As a new leader brought in to get the US manufacturing champion back on track after years of turmoil, Ortberg has free rein to make sweeping changes, including potentially scuttling the initiative.
Ortberg's portfolio review followed years of technical glitches, setbacks, and more than $1.8 billion in cost overruns with Starliner, offering reasons to doubt the program's future in Boeing's lineup. Then came the botched June mission that left Williams and Wilmore stuck at the ISS for nine months rather than the planned few days.
But on Tuesday, Stich pointed to the work Boeing is doing to get to the root of Starliner's previous issues as evidence that the company is still committed to the program.
'Boeing, up to their new CEO Kelly, has been committed to Starliner,' Stich said.
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Wilmore and Williams arrived at the ISS last June on Starliner with plans to spend roughly a week in space. But that brief trip turned into 286 days when NASA decided in August that the pair would come home on a rival SpaceX capsule instead, citing technical issues with their Boeing vehicle.
Boeing is addressing problems that cropped up during the flight, including with helium leaks and glitch-prone thrusters that are used to position the craft during flight, NASA officials said on Tuesday.
The upcoming tests, which could determine if Starliner's next mission will occur with or without people on board, are a critical milestone that could determine when and if the spacecraft is certified.
Stich charted out an ambitious course. NASA intends to send a 'crew-capable' capsule to orbit with all the systems in place as if astronauts were aboard, he said. After that, and presuming no new showstopper issue emerges, the plan would be for Boeing to finally go into the rotation of regular crewed flights to space.
'The next flight up would really test all the changes we're making to the vehicle,' he said. 'The next flight beyond that we really need to get Boeing into a crew rotation.'
He even went as far as suggesting the possibility of Boeing's craft one day bailing out SpaceX.
'Someday there may be a case where we're using Starliner to handle a Dragon contingency problem.'