SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Saturday that its rival Boeing Co. is awarded government contracts in the space segment owing to their “armies of lobbyists” despite safety concerns around its commercial plane segment.
What Happened: “They have armies of lobbyists,” Musk wrote in response to an X user who wondered why Boeing is awarded big contracts from the government despite the issues flagged with its passenger flight segment.
“Not sure why Boeing (given their track record with passenger flights) is given such contracts when SpaceX (given their track record with launches) is just vastly superior,” Dhaval Shroff wrote. Shroff is also an employee at Musk’s Tesla.
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The comments on Boeing’s alleged incompetence relative to SpaceX come amid safety issues plaguing its commercial airplane segment and technical issues identified with its Starliner spacecraft.
Boeing launched its Starliner spacecraft in early June with two astronauts – Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore. Though they were initially estimated to return on June 14, the return dates have been delayed time and again owing to issues of helium system leaks and thruster performance identified with the Starliner spacecraft while docking with the International Space Station (ISS.)
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NASA is currently trying to study the risks associated with these issues before returning the astronauts.
Last week, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager Steve Stich said that they haven’t ascertained a return date yet. While the focus is on returning the astronauts aboard Starliner itself, using SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft to return the astronauts in case the Starliner can’t is also a possibility, Stich said.
Why It Matters: NASA awarded both Boeing and SpaceX contracts to enable transportation to and from the ISS after retiring its space shuttle. SpaceX sent its first crewed mission to the ISS in 2020 on its Dragon spacecraft and has since then undertaken multiple missions, overtaking its traditional rival.
Boeing's Starliner spacecraft has been marred by several delays since the start. The spacecraft was supposed to have its first uncrewed test flight in 2015 which was delayed up to 2019. The spacecraft then failed to achieve its intended orbit. In 2022, the spacecraft completed its first successful uncrewed flight to the International Space Station.
If the ongoing crewed flight test is successful, Boeing will become the next private company to shuttle astronauts to and from the ISS for NASA, like SpaceX.
Musk has previously pegged the delay on Starliner on "too many non-technical managers" at Boeing.
"Although Boeing got $4.2 billion to develop an astronaut capsule and SpaceX only got $2.6 billion, SpaceX finished 4 years sooner," Musk said in May. "Too many non-technical managers at Boeing."
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