Video Discription |
Disaster: Boeing Starliner failure!
In 2010, Boeing hoped to complete a crewed Starliner mission by 2015. Yet, here we are in 2022, and the Starliner has simply seen delay after delay and failure after failure.
Meanwhile, SpaceX has been making tremendous progress in terms of Crew Dragon. The company has already completed seven crewed missions using Crew Dragon, and Crew Dragon will only be used more frequently moving forward.
But is Boeing Starliner a complete failure?
Hang on there till the end of this script as I rip off everything about Boeing Starliner line by line, word by word.
Frankly, not a failure, the Starliner program has been a disaster in all aspects.
Firstly, it’s actually painful to remember that NASA dumped $4.2 billion of taxpayer money on Boeing to build the spacecraft.
Furthermore, in an award that NASA's own inspector general described as "unnecessary," NASA paid Boeing an additional $287.2 million. This brings Boeing's total to $4.49 billion.
For the same services, the development of Crew Dragon, and six operational missions, NASA paid SpaceX $2.6 billion. After its initial award, NASA has agreed to buy an additional eight flights from SpaceX—Crew-7, -8, -9, -10, -11, -12, -13, and -14—through the year 2030. This brings the total contract awarded to SpaceX to $4.93 billion.
Since we now know how many flights each company will be providing NASA through the lifetime of the International Space Station, and the full cost of those contracts, we can break down the price NASA is paying each company per seat by amortizing the development costs.
Boeing, in flying 24 astronauts, has a per-seat price of $183 million. SpaceX, in flying 56 astronauts during the same time frame, has a seat price of $88 million. Thus, NASA is paying Boeing 2.1 times the price per seat that it is paying SpaceX, inclusive of development costs incurred by NASA.
What a ridiculous expense!
The important thing is that the Boeing Starliner is stuck on the ground.
In other words, Starliner has not transported an astronaut yet. The spacecraft really has a history of error.
Starliner's development has proven to be a long, bumpy ride. In 2019, the capsule could not be placed in the correct orbit because of a clock problem and had to return to Earth after two days. Boeing had then realized that other software concerns had nearly led to a serious flight anomaly. NASA prescribed a long list of recommendations and modifications be made.
Disaster: Boeing Starliner failure! |