Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is nearing the finish line. (credit: Boeing)
The last human to command a space shuttle stood outside Boeing’s main office building in southeast Houston Wednesday morning, speaking effusively about the company’s Starliner spacecraft, when it began to rain. But as sometimes happens in this humid Gulf coast city, sunshine persisted even at it rained. Perhaps we should step under one of the building’s awnings, Chris Ferguson suggested—to escape the rain and the Sun.
The weather offered an apt metaphor for Boeing’s recent fortunes in aerospace. The company has a big piece of every single one of NASA’s human spaceflight programs. It’s also the prime contractor of the Space Launch System’s core stage as well as for International Space Station operations, and Boeing is one two participants in the commercial crew program to deliver astronauts to the space station.
But clouds loom, too. SpaceX and Blue Origin have begun to demonstrate the viability of reusable rockets, leading to questions about the affordability of large, expendable rockets like the SLS. NASA will also likely drop funding for the station in 2024, or 2028 at the latest, and as the space agency moves on to cislunar space it is not clear Boeing will be the prime contractor on NASA’s next orbital outpost. Finally, Boeing’s Starliner is in a tight race with SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft to be the first to reach the launch pad for commercial crew in roughly two years.
Read 12 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Ars peeks into Boeing’s new sim room for the Starliner spacecraft