Boeing may not get Starliner up and running before space station is destroyed

Boeing could quickly run out of time.

The clock is ticking

Over the weekend, NASA officially decided it was too risky to return its two stranded astronauts, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, aboard Boeing’s troubled Starliner.

The decision was a heavy blow for Boeing. After many years of development, the company has still not completed a successful manned test flight.

And whether the much-maligned capsule will ever be able to safely transport a crew to the International Space Station and back remains an open question.

This is because NASA is already planning to decommission the orbital base with the help of SpaceX in 2030. This would give Boeing about five years to get back on track – and about five years have already passed since the company’s failed unmanned test flight.

“Boeing will have to deal with the consequences of the failure of this mission when it comes to achieving its test objectives,” said space veteran Todd Harrison NPR.

Hard fight

Instead of running out of time, Boeing could jettison its damaged spacecraft long before it leaves ISS orbit.

Harrison said NPR He believes it is “quite likely” that Boeing could decide to “withdraw” from the Starliner “within a few weeks or months.”

“This program somehow stands out as something that doesn’t fit with the rest of their business,” he added.

Boeing has already lost an incredible $1.6 billion on the development of the Starliner, plus the more than $4 billion in funding from NASA’s Commercial Crew Program that the company received in 2014.

In the meantime, SpaceX has achieved far more with far less funding from the space agency, completing nearly a dozen manned missions to the ISS.

One way to look at the situation is that NASA would have been out of luck if it had not commissioned both SpaceX and Boeing to develop spacecraft.

“If they had chosen just one supplier, it would have been Boeing, because SpaceX was a risky candidate at the time,” said space consultant Laura Forczyk. New scientist. “In some ways, this is a triumph for the Commercial Crew Program.”

Boeing’s Starliner has been docked at the station since early June, and NASA has not yet announced a date for its unmanned return – a journey that carries its own risks.

It is also unclear when or if Starliner will fly again. At this point, the company appears to be keeping all options open.

“Boeing remains primarily focused on crew and spacecraft safety,” a Boeing spokesman said futurism when asked if Starliner could be canceled. “We are conducting the mission as defined by NASA and preparing the spacecraft for a safe and successful unmanned return.”

More about the Starliner: Starliner is such a disaster that Boeing may cancel the entire project