--- title: "Starliner Is Such a Disaster That Boeing May Cancel the Entire Project" description: "Space Nightmare Over the weekend, NASA finally announced its final decision: Boeing's plagued Starliner is coming back empty-handed. Instead, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will get a ride on board SpaceX's Crew Dragon in February. It's an extremely unfortunate development for Boeing, a company that has been battling with Starliner's development for years […]" date: "2024-08-27" modified: "2024-08-27" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/starliner-failure-embarrassment-boeing" categories: - "Boeing" - "Space" tags: - "international space station" - "NASA" - "SpaceX" - "starliner" --- # Starliner Is Such a Disaster That Boeing May Cancel the Entire Project ![Boeing's plagued Starliner is coming back empty-handed, a huge embarrassment for the embattled aerospace giant.]() *\Image: NASA / Futurism\* Over the weekend, NASA finally announced its decision: Boeing's plagued [Starliner is coming back empty-handed](). Instead, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams — who flew up on the troubled capsule — will get a ride on board SpaceX's Crew Dragon [in February](). It's an extremely unfortunate development for Boeing, a company that has been [battling with Starliner's development]() for years now. Technical mishaps, supply chain issues, and many years of delays have resulted in a whopping $1.6 billion budget overrun since 2016, [*Reuters* reports](). But NASA is now focused just on getting Starliner back in one piece. "I am not sure the decision will ultimately be NASA's," former NASA deputy administrator Lori Garver told *Reuters* when asked if Boeing would stay in NASA's Commercial Crew program. "Boeing is going to have to foot much of this bill, as they have been." And when we asked Boeing whether Starliner might get canceled, the company didn't exactly jump to defend the project. "Boeing continues to focus, first and foremost, on the safety of the crew and spacecraft," a spokesperson said. "We are executing the mission as determined by NASA, and we are preparing the spacecraft for a safe and successful uncrewed return." Worse yet, NASA's inspector general [released a damning report earlier this month](), finding that Boeing's contributions to NASA's Moonbound Space Launch System are also many years behind and way over budget. And that's not to mention years' worth of [controversies plaguing Boeing's passenger jet business]() and [executive shakeups](). In short, Starliner's failure is only the tip of the iceberg, with analysts and industry experts raising doubts that the spacecraft will ever fly again, according to *Reuters*. Boeing's first crewed test flight was designed to give NASA the confidence to certify it for regular crew rotation missions to the International Space Station, providing redundancy in case SpaceX's Crew Dragon were to get sidelined. Instead, [nagging gas leaks and related thruster issues]() raised enough doubts among space agency officials to have Wilmore and Williams ditch the spacecraft for their return, a black eye for a spacecraft that's already years behind and billions of dollars over budget. "Boeing's other businesses aren't terribly vulnerable to disruption," aerospace analyst Richard Aboulafia told *Reuters*. "But space? That's another story." "Do they ultimately exit the program because it’s too complicated and because the other guy can do it better?" Melius Research analyst Robert Spingarn [told *Bloomberg*](). "It can happen." As [*Reuters* reported earlier this month](), Boeing is even in talks to sell a joint rocket-launching business with the United Launch Alliance to the space company Sierra Space. Skilled workers are jumping ship and joining Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin. Meanwhile, time is running out for Starliner. The ISS is [set to be retired around 2030]() and it's already been five years since Boeing's first uncrewed Starliner test flight [ended in failure](). Whether the capsule could serve as a way to deliver astronauts to a [private successor to the space station]() feels like a risky gamble. **More on Starliner:** *[When Boeing's Starliner Comes Back Empty, It'll Destroy the Malfunctioning Thrusters, Making It Impossible to Study What Went Wrong]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()