Boeing’s involvement in the space industry dates back to NASA’s Apollo missions in the 1960s, but its future in space exploration is up in the air amid financial woes and growing speculation about a potential sale of its space business. “What they’re selling remains a little bit of ambiguous, but it appears that Boeing is certainly not happy with the fixed cost portion of their space business that would appear to be primarily Starliner and then potentially the ISS maintenance contract,” said Dr. Greg Autry, the Associate Provost for Space Commercialization and Strategy at UCF.The Boeing Starliner, designed for transporting crews to and from the International Space Station and other low-Earth-orbit destinations, is behind schedule and more than $1.5 billion over budget since the project began in 2016. “If they were to sell that business, this would have huge implications for NASA all across its human space flight program,” said Dr. Ken Kremer, the managing editor of spaceupclose.com.Kremer said he’s “not convinced anyone wants to buy” Boeing’s space assets, but added Lockheed Martin or Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin could be potential suitors. “It’s gonna have to be someone with a lot of money because they have so many contracts with NASA,” he said.Since becoming CEO and President of the struggling American aerospace company in August, Kelly Ortberg said Boeing “is at a crossroads.””The trust in our company has eroded,” Ortberg said during Boeing’s Q3 2024 earnings call. “We’re saddled with too much debt. We’ve had serious lapses in our performance across the company, which have disappointed many of our customers.”By ditching its space division, industry experts said Boeing could re-focus on fixing safety and manufacturing issues with its core airplane business.”I hope they do,” Autry said, “because I like the airplane and I want them to be safe and competitive in a profitable business.” A sale of Boeing’s key space assets could lead to the creation of more jobs on the Space Coast, experts said, but there’s also the risk a deal would eliminate competition.”I want Starliner to succeed,” Autry said. “I think it’s a great capsule. I had the opportunity to sit in one once. And we need a competitive commercial marketplace for human space flight, so I would love to see a qualified buyer step up and take this project over and fix what appear to be systemic operational problems that Boeing has had with within this vehicle.”A company spokesperson told WESH 2 “Boeing doesn’t comment on market rumors or speculation.” “This is a big ship that will take some time to turn, but when it does, it has the capacity to be great again,” Boeing’s CEO Ortberg said during the earnings call. “This is a company that ushered in the new era of air travel and helped land the first man on the moon. Getting back to the values that helped define this legacy is what will define our future.”
Boeing’s involvement in the space industry dates back to NASA’s Apollo missions in the 1960s, but its future in space exploration is up in the air amid financial woes and growing speculation about a potential sale of its space business.
“What they’re selling remains a little bit of ambiguous, but it appears that Boeing is certainly not happy with the fixed cost portion of their space business that would appear to be primarily Starliner and then potentially the ISS maintenance contract,” said Dr. Greg Autry, the Associate Provost for Space Commercialization and Strategy at UCF.
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The Boeing Starliner, designed for transporting crews to and from the International Space Station and other low-Earth-orbit destinations, is behind schedule and more than $1.5 billion over budget since the project began in 2016.
“If they were to sell that business, this would have huge implications for NASA all across its human space flight program,” said Dr. Ken Kremer, the managing editor of spaceupclose.com.
Kremer said he’s “not convinced anyone wants to buy” Boeing’s space assets, but added Lockheed Martin or Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin could be potential suitors.
“It’s gonna have to be someone with a lot of money because they have so many contracts with NASA,” he said.
Since becoming CEO and President of the struggling American aerospace company in August, Kelly Ortberg said Boeing “is at a crossroads.”
“The trust in our company has eroded,” Ortberg said during Boeing’s Q3 2024 earnings call. “We’re saddled with too much debt. We’ve had serious lapses in our performance across the company, which have disappointed many of our customers.”
By ditching its space division, industry experts said Boeing could re-focus on fixing safety and manufacturing issues with its core airplane business.
“I hope they do,” Autry said, “because I like the airplane and I want them to be safe and competitive in a profitable business.”
A sale of Boeing’s key space assets could lead to the creation of more jobs on the Space Coast, experts said, but there’s also the risk a deal would eliminate competition.
“I want Starliner to succeed,” Autry said. “I think it’s a great capsule. I had the opportunity to sit in one once. And we need a competitive commercial marketplace for human space flight, so I would love to see a qualified buyer step up and take this project over and fix what appear to be systemic operational problems that Boeing has had with within this vehicle.”
A company spokesperson told WESH 2 “Boeing doesn’t comment on market rumors or speculation.”
“This is a big ship that will take some time to turn, but when it does, it has the capacity to be great again,” Boeing’s CEO Ortberg said during the earnings call. “This is a company that ushered in the new era of air travel and helped land the first man on the moon. Getting back to the values that helped define this legacy is what will define our future.”
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