(Not) Fixed Boeing has now lost $2B on Starliner, but still silent on future plans Boeing has brought back a previous Starliner manager to helm the troubled program. Stephen Clark Feb 4, 2025 8:44 am | 7 A detailed view of the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in 2021. Credit: Photo by Gregg Newton/AFP via Getty Images A detailed view of the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in 2021. Credit: Photo by Gregg Newton/AFP via Getty Images Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreBoeing announced Monday it lost $523 million on the Starliner crew capsule program last year, putting the aerospace company $2 billion in the red on its NASA commercial crew contract since late 2019.The updated numbers are included in a quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. "Risk remains that we may record additional losses in future periods," Boeing wrote in the filing.In 2014, NASA picked Boeing and SpaceX to develop and certify two commercial crew transporter vehicles. Like SpaceX, Boeing's contract, now worth up to $4.6 billion, is structured as a fixed-price deal, meaning the contractor is on the hook to pay for cost overruns that go over NASA's financial commitment.That's exactly what happened. Boeing has registered losses on Starliner in its quarterly earnings reports since 2020, months after the spacecraft's first orbital test flight fell short of its objectives. It has been a steady stream of losses, or charges, on Boeing's balance sheet since then.Boeing officials previously reported the company lost $375 million on the Starliner program in the first three quarters of 2024. Add in another $148 million hit in the fourth quarter, and Boeing's total losses on the Starliner program have reached $2 billion and are likely to rise more.A rough yearThe most recent financial loss comes as Boeing reels from a disappointing test flight of the Starliner spacecraft last year. Boeing and NASA expected the test flight would set the stage for the spacecraft's final certification to begin operational crew rotation flights to and from the International Space Station.Instead, the Starliner spacecraft suffered problems with overheating thrusters and helium leaks after its launch last June aboard an Atlas V rocket. Despite the technical issues, the capsule delivered its two-person crewNASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williamsto the space station as planned. However, numerous tests of Starliner's propulsion system in space and on the ground failed to convince NASA managers that more problems would not develop during the spacecraft's return to Earth.Boeing officials disagreed and asserted Starliner would bring Wilmore and Williams home.But NASA calls the shots on the commercial crew program, and the space agency decided to leave the Starliner astronauts on the space station and return Starliner to Earth without its crew. The spacecraft parachuted to a successful landing in New Mexico in September.Meanwhile, Wilmore and Williams are still at the space station. They went outside the station on a spacewalk last week to complete routine maintenance tasks. NASA plans to return the two astronauts to Earth on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft as soon as early April, although the exact schedule is unclear due to delays in readying SpaceX's Dragon capsule and odd statements from Elon Musk and President Trump last week.What's also unclear is when, or in what form, Boeing's Starliner spacecraft will fly again. One option NASA officials have considered is to fly a cargo mission on Starliner later this year, providing an opportunity to validate changes to the spacecraft's propulsion system. An alternative could be to proceed with certification of the Starliner spacecraft for operational crew rotation flights, even though the crew test flight last year was incomplete.The long-term future of Starliner is also in question. NASA's original commercial crew contract for Boeing included six crew rotation flights once Starliner is certified. NASA has formally given Boeing the go-ahead for only three of these operational missions.Meanwhile, NASA has extended SpaceX's commercial crew contract through the Crew-14 mission. Like Boeing's deal, SpaceX originally received a contract for six crew rotation flights, but NASA ordered more amid mounting Starliner delays. SpaceX wrapped up work on its original commercial crew contract in 2023 and is now executing on the extension.NASA plans to retire the International Space Station around 2030, so the opportunities are dwindling for NASA to use Starliner for all six of the crew ferry flights on contract. In November, Musk posted on X: "There is no logical purpose to Starliner, given that NASA plans to deorbit Space Station in ~5 years."Not so new managementIt will fall to a new Boeing manager to oversee whatever becomes of Starliner.Last week, Boeing confirmed John Mulholland is taking over as Starliner program manager. He replaces Mark Nappi, who held the top job on the Starliner program since 2022 and is retiring from Boeing later this month.Mulholland led the Starliner program from 2011 until 2020, when Boeing reassigned him to manage the company's engineering sustainment contract for the International Space Station. This followed Starliner's first orbital test flight, without people aboard, which ended prematurely due to software issues.Although Mulholland was not in charge during Starliner's most recent setbacks, it was under his leadership that engineers made the design decisions that led to many of Starliner's problems. These include the software woes that kept the spacecraft from reaching the space station on the 2019 test flight and the use of valves in the ship's service module that were susceptible to corrosion. In 2023, just a couple of months before Starliner was supposed to launch on the crew test flight, officials discovered a design problem with Starliner's parachutes and found that Boeing installed flammable tape inside the capsule's cockpit.And the problem that caused Starliner's thrusters to overheat in space last year can be traced to the design of the spacecraft's four propulsion pods, or doghouses, that retain heat like a thermos during successive thruster firings. Boeing and Aerojet Rocketdyne, Starliner's propulsion supplier, approved the doghouse early in the program, years before Starliner ever flew in space.Stephen ClarkSpace ReporterStephen ClarkSpace Reporter Stephen Clark is a space reporter at Ars Technica, covering private space companies and the worlds space agencies. Stephen writes about the nexus of technology, science, policy, and business on and off the planet. 7 Comments