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Nearly five months after an uncrewed Starliner undocked from the International Space Station (ISS), Boeing announced that it lost an additional half a billion dollars from its troubled spacecraft as the fate of its contract with NASA remains unclear.
In its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, Boeing reported a total of $523 million in losses from the Starliner Commercial Crew Program in 2024. That brings the total amount of losses from the ill-fated program to a whopping $2 billion in cost overruns. Boeing cited “highly complex designs and technical challenges,” as well as “schedule delays and cost impacts,” that increased the cost estimates for its programs.
Under its $4.2 billion contract with NASA, Boeing retains full ownership of the Starliner spacecraft while NASA acts as a customer. Following Starliner’s failed crewed test to the ISS, the company reported $250 million in losses for the third quarter, covering cost overruns out of its own pocket. That’s on top of the $125 million it lost in the second quarter. Boeing had forewarned that more losses were coming during the fourth quarter of 2024, and it turned out to be the heftiest bill of the entire year.
Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner launched on June 5, 2024, carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunni Williams for the spacecraft’s first crewed test flight to the ISS, but the spacecraft had a hard time reaching the ISS. As it crept closer to the orbital lab, five of the Starliner’s thrusters failed and the spacecraft developed five helium leaks, one of which was identified prior to liftoff.
The spacecraft remained docked to the space station for three months as teams on the ground debated whether it was safe to return the crew on board Starliner. Mission teams eventually decided to return an uncrewed Starliner and bring back the two astronauts on board SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft. The spacecraft undocked from the ISS on September 6, leaving the two astronauts behind.
Shortly after Starliner’s uncrewed return, NASA put a hold on the Boeing spacecraft’s upcoming trips to the ISS. Instead, the space agency announced that SpaceX’s Crew Dragon will launch its Crew-10 mission in March, followed by the Crew-11 mission no earlier than July, delaying Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner’s next chance at flying to the ISS.
Following the disappointing end to its first crewed flight, Boeing hinted at possibly giving up on its space endeavors altogether. The company is reportedly exploring the option of selling some parts of its space business, including the Starliner spacecraft, while keeping the components being built for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket.
With no easy way forward, it would make sense for Boeing to cut its (really hefty) losses and sell its Starliner program. Regardless, NASA will have to continue relying on a single launch provider, SpaceX, for the foreseeable future—a scenario it explicitly hoped to avoid with the dual Commercial Crew contracts awarded in 2014.
