Boeing Is Humiliated And Embarrassed After NASA Opts For SpaceX To Rescue Astronauts
This past Saturday, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced the difficult decision to return Williams and WIlmore back to Earth on a SpaceX space capsule, instead of the Starliner capsule they arrived on. The decision includes Starliner making its return to Earth unmanned sometime next month.
During the press conference, Nelson made it clear that Boeing had been working “very hard” to provide NASA with the necessary data to make the decision. Following the announcement, a Boeing employee, speaking on the condition of anonymity, expressed embarrassment and humiliation over the decision.
"NASA has decided that Butch and Suni will return with Crew-9 next February."@SenBillNelson and agency experts are discussing today's decision on NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test. Watch live with us: https://t.co/M2ODFmLuTj pic.twitter.com/J2qvwOW4mU
— NASA (@NASA) August 24, 2024
Whether it be a wheel from the landing gear falling off a Boeing 757-200, or a door plug being ejected from an Alaska Airlines plane during flight, the company has been facing scrutiny from both the government and consumers. So, having SpaceX come to the rescue only adds to the embarrassment and humiliation Boeing employees have perhaps been feeling lately.
“We have had so many embarrassments lately, we’re under a microscope,” one Boeing employee remarked. “This just made it, like, 100 times worse.” The employee added that Boeing employees detest SpaceX and “talk s**t about them all the time.”
Boeing as a company has been steadfast in its belief that Starliner could return Wilmore and Williams safely. It remarked in a statement earlier this month, “We continue to support NASA’s request for additional testing, data, analysis and reviews to affirm the spacecraft’s safe undocking and landing capabilities.” It added, “Our confidence is based on this abundance of valuable testing from Boeing and NASA.”
The employee explained in the interview with the New York Post, “They have their own PR issues and don’t need two dead astronauts.” Then made clear, “But we didn’t think that there would be dead astronauts. We’d never have recommended that they use us if they thought it was going to be unsafe for them.”
Regardless of the decision, Boeing can still save face to a degree with a successful return of an unmanned Starliner next month. However, if anything goes wrong during the space capsule’s return to Earth, the humiliation and embarrassment its employees are feeling right now will only be exacerbated.
