Boeing’s history with Nasa’s space programme stretches back to the Apollo missions of the 1960s that cemented US dominance among the stars. Now, a shifting competitive landscape and a black eye from stranding two astronauts at the International Space Station are raising a once-unthinkable question: should the company exit the business?
Nasa officials announced last month that astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams would be returning to Earth aboard a SpaceX spacecraft next year rather than the Boeing CST-100 Starliner that carried them to the space station in June, their planned eight-day mission lengthening to eight months.
Nasa administrator Bill Nelson said he had talked to Boeing’s new chief executive Kelly Ortberg, and was “100 per cent” sure that the company would fly Nasa missions again.