BoeingThe Starliner is a human-sized space capsule designed to hold astronauts to and from the International Space Station. Boeing began work on the capsule in 2014 when it signed a $4.2 billion contract as a part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program.
NASA also chosen SpaceX for this task and provided Elon Musk's company with $2.6 billion to develop the Crew Dragon capsule.
“The entire Commercial Crew Program was a completely new endeavor,” said Caleb Henry, chief science officer at Quilty Space. “Previously, NASA had to rely on its own engineers to get people to the space station.”
Henry said this system allows NASA to “transfer some of those responsibilities to the private sector.”
“There was some reluctance in Congress to take this approach,” he said. “It was only because Boeing threw its hat in the ring that Congress, and by extension NASA, felt confident enough to actually move forward with this program.”
In the last decade since then, Boeing has struggled to finish the six missions under its contract with NASA.
Of the nearly $5 billion Boeing has received to date to develop the Starliner, the corporate has spent $1.5 billion to make up for delays. Boeing recently launched its final test, a milestone manned mission that should be accomplished before NASA can certify the Starliner for deployment.
SpaceX has now accomplished over a dozen manned missions into space and has sent each NASA astronauts and personal individuals into space since 2020.
Watch the video to learn more concerning the obstacles Boeing faced with its Starliner project and what the long run may hold for its long-awaited capsule.
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