People will be watching raptly as the Boeing Starliner descends to earth sans crew in the hopes of seeing a RUD event, the two astronauts will be waiting for a lift from the SpaceX Dragon capsule in February. I don't know how this will affect Boeing financially, but trust wise would you go up on the next Starliner launch?
https://www.news.com.au/technology/scie ... 7844083fe5
Boeing boing with Starliner
Re: Boeing boing with Starliner
It's hard to say what is the main cause of Boeing's problem lately. I think some amount of mismanagement and complacency from a company used to getting infinite government funds despite sometimes poor performance. It has plagued their airline business and now space.
It's also probably an example of what happens when a fat government cost-plus contractor tries to compete with a lean, fully vertically integrated company that quibbles over the cost of a 20c bolt. And SpaceX isn't reducing costs by sacrificing safety. Instead, they would rather build their own turbo pump in house for $5k than pay some third party $50k along with all their markups.
It's kind of funny/sad given that when the contracts first went out, NASA was seriously considering just going with Boeing and no one else seeing as they were the experienced, trusted company.
It's also probably an example of what happens when a fat government cost-plus contractor tries to compete with a lean, fully vertically integrated company that quibbles over the cost of a 20c bolt. And SpaceX isn't reducing costs by sacrificing safety. Instead, they would rather build their own turbo pump in house for $5k than pay some third party $50k along with all their markups.
It's kind of funny/sad given that when the contracts first went out, NASA was seriously considering just going with Boeing and no one else seeing as they were the experienced, trusted company.
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stevebrooks
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Re: Boeing boing with Starliner
That's probably where the problems arose, NASA only dealt with a select few companies because they were the only ones large enough to actually quote for the jobs. Trust came not from performance but reliance, they had to rely on these companies because there was no second or third choice, suddenly there is, and now that Boeing actually has to compete they fall back on the option they have most recently used to compete, cut costs by cutting quality.
Re: Boeing boing with Starliner
Another factor that I didn't mention. Boeing merged with McDonnell Douglas in the late 90s. A lot of people believe this transitioned them from a tech/engineering focus to a profit-making focus.