Boeing Lost Billions Over Starliner... Starliner Now Cancelled!

Boeing’s Starliner was supposed to be a cornerstone of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. However, what was once envisioned as a rival to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon became a years-long saga of technical failures, delays, and ultimately, one of the most embarrassing and disasters in modern spaceflight. The problems with Starliner began long before its first uncrewed test flight. Boeing, one of the aerospace industry’s oldest and most respected companies, was awarded a four point two billion dollar contract from NASA in two thousand fourteen, a contract significantly larger than SpaceX’s two point six billion dollars for the development of Crew Dragon. Given Boeing’s extensive experience, many assumed that Starliner would reach operational status before SpaceX. But from the beginning, the project was plagued with mismanagement, software issues, and technical hurdles that continuously pushed back its launch schedule. One of the first major setbacks came in December two thousand nineteen, during Starliner’s first orbital flight test. The mission was designed to demonstrate Starliner’s ability to autonomously dock with the International Space Station, a critical step before carrying astronauts. However, a software timing error caused the spacecraft’s mission clock to be off by eleven hours, leading to an incorrect orbital insertion burn. The spacecraft never made it to the International Space Station and had to return to Earth prematurely. Further investigation revealed another potentially catastrophic software issue that could have caused the service module to collide with the crew module during separation. NASA deemed the mission a "high-visibility close call," and Boeing had to conduct a full review of its software development and testing procedures. NASA and Boeing decided that another uncrewed flight test was necessary before putting astronauts on board. This led to the second orbital flight test, originally scheduled for two thousand twenty-one. But on the launch pad, just hours before liftoff, engineers discovered a problem with thirteen stuck oxidizer valves in the spacecraft’s propulsion system. The launch was scrubbed, and Starliner had to be sent back to Boeing’s facility for extensive troubleshooting. The problem turned out to be moisture interacting with the oxidizer, causing corrosion inside the valves. It took nearly a year to develop a fix, leading to yet another massive delay.