Why It Took Boeing A Decade To Launch NASA Astronauts On Starliner

Boeing is too profit focused. No more "fixed price contracts"? That just means no contract for Boeing. SpaceX and other companies will just be eating it's lunch.

Two big difference between SpaceX and Boeing. One's intent on developing a launch vehicle that could take people to Mars (as ambitious as that sounds), while the other one has a main goal of making money. I'm sure there are lots of smart people on both companies, but leadership and vision matters a lot.

Boeing isn't the same company anymore.

Starliner's June 5th launch suffered from serious post-launch issues, including the failure of five thrusters and numerous helium leaks. They only reason they were able to dock at the ISS was because they were able to fix some (but not all) of the thrusters in-flight, forcing them to perform a manual docking. If I were NASA, I'd be requiring another test flight before certifying it, because they still have not demonstrated a successful mission without major in-flight technical failures.

I don't feel this video identified the root cause of why Boeing is delayed and overbudget. The video title: "Why It Took Boeing A Decade ....." suggested it would explain why they are delayed, however I don't think identifying valve issues and highlighting how SpaceX did it so much faster and cheaper, explains why.

Fixed price is how all contracts should be

The problem is Boeing has gotten too close to the Government and gotten comfortable knowing they can get more money basically whenever they want instead of a fixed amount to develop something. This creates a situation where the company has zero incentive to be quick or efficient in its design process. Spacex on the other hand had a fixed amount and knew if they couldn't get it to work they wouldn't get any handouts and so they were actually required to be fast and effective and deliver a good product the first time.

Until the 1970s Boeing was an engineering focused company with engineers and aviators making up the majority of management. Emphasis was placed on providing quality, safe products and customer satisfaction. In the 1970s management began to be dominated by MBAs and accountants. Emphasis changed to short term profits and share value. This only became worse when McDonald Douglas merged with Boeing.

When a MBA is in charge of an Engineering company, you will have problems.

Left unmentioned in this report is the fact that despite Boeing's contract being "fixed price", it's clear that Boeing for one—and quite possibly NASA themselves—were counting on this "fixed" nature being flexible as usual. Boeing asked NASA for an additional $279 million beyond what they were being paid, and the US taxpayers paid Boeing that extra $279 million, courtesy of an obliging NASA. The only reason this didn't continue is because the Inspector General caught wind of it and put a stop to it. Boeing didn't even possess the grace to silently let it drop, as they wrote a thoroughly pi-sy letter explaining why they should be allowed to continue getting paid additional money regardless of the contract being "fixed price."

The launch cadence for SpaceX so far this year is currently a launch every 2.7 DAYS. Last year's cadence was a launch every 3.8 days. Practice makes perfect.

Boeing was too preoccupied trying to put on gigantic engines on the 737 that wasn't designed for them.

Overruns means profits to shareholders, and they only care about those.

The only reason why Boeing doesn't want fixed contracts is because they have less freedom to cook the books.

When you’re composed of companies that basically enjoyed a monopoly for so long, there’s just no competition to stay sharp.

How was the gas leak going? Please make sure those astronauts come back to earth safely.

How is Boeing/ULA suppose to be a viable competitor if its launchers aren't reusable it seems like that alone makes it uncompetitive against SpaceX

Boeing is way too profit driven. Several billions overbudget and 7 years behind schedule is unacceptable, and that's in addition to the SLS moon rocket being $6 billion over budget and 6 years behind schedule

Did you see the control panel in the Starliner? It looks like Apollo with toggle switches everywhere They haven't hardly improved their engineering a bit They are antiques! Compare to SpaceX dragon control panel which is super clean and software driven.

Let's be real here, SpaceX is gonna go places far more faster than these guys wish they could do in a lifetime