Following a difficult year in which the spacecraft’s first astronaut trip became a nightmare for NASA, Boeing has lost over $2 billion and counting on its Starliner spaceship.
According to a filing released by Boeing on Monday, the Starliner program recorded charges of $523 million for 2024, its biggest single-year loss to date. The business pointed out that because Starliner is bound by a fixed-price contract with NASA, there is a constant chance that comparable losses will need to be recorded at other times.
Since NASA gave Boeing a roughly $5 billion fixed-price contract to create Starliner in 2014, the business has seen losses on the project nearly annually.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which has flown ten human flights for NASA and is relying on its Dragon capsules, is a competitor to Boeing’s program.
Last summer, a glitch in the capsule’s propulsion system caused Boeing’s first crew flight to go awry. NASA decided to bring Starliner back empty and employ SpaceX to return the crew early this year, an agency decision that recently become politicized, even though Starliner had already transported astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the ISS.
NASA and Boeing have not disclosed how or when they intend to address the Starliner propulsion problem.
According to Reuters, Boeing announced last week that Starliner Vice President Mark Nappi was stepping down. John Mulholland, the company’s ISS program manager, was appointed as his replacement. From 2011 to 2020, Mullholland oversaw the Starliner program.
SpaceX has planned both of its astronauts to fly on flights that launch in the spring and late summer, while NASA announced nearly four months ago that it was retaining windows of opportunity for a possible Starliner trip in 2025. NASA went on to say that once a clearer picture of Boeing’s route to system certification is developed, the schedule and setup of Starliner’s subsequent flight will be decided.
Since making those remarks in October, the government has not provided an update on Starliner.
More from CNBC:
-
McDonald s Shamrock Shake returns and so does Grimace s uncle
-
PepsiCo earnings beat estimates, but demand for drinks and snacks drops in North America
-
The Super Bowl will stream for free on Tubi, a big move for Fox s streaming strategy