Boeing employees are “humiliated” after NASA announced that two astronauts who have been stranded on the International Space Station by the company’s troubled Starliner space capsule will have to be rescued by Elon Musk’s upstart rival SpaceX, one worker told The Post.
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams — who went up to the ISS in June for what was supposed to be an eight-day mission — will have to wait another six months until a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft can carry them safely home, because their original ride is leaking helium and has problems with its thrusters.
The Florida-based staffer with Boeing’s space program said the decision was the latest blow to the aerospace giant, which is already suffering backlash from a slew of commercial flight incidents earlier this year.
“We have had so many embarrassments lately, we’re under a microscope. This just made it, like, 100 times worse,” said one worker, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
“We hate SpaceX,” he added. “We talk s–t about them all the time, and now they’re bailing us out.”
“It’s shameful. I’m embarrassed, I’m horrified,” the employee said.
With morale “in the toilet,” the worker claimed that many in Boeing are blaming NASA for the humiliation.
Boeing maintains its Starliner craft could safely get the astronauts back to Earth after putting them on the ISS during its maiden crewed flight on June 5.
However, NASA decided to turn to SpaceX for help after more than two months of testing the craft, which is still docked at the ISS.
The Boeing craft suffered a helium leak just before liftoff, with the leaks getting worse when the ship docked at the ISS.
The craft also suffered several failures of its thrusters. While many of those issues had been mitigated since then, NASA said the safest decision is for Wilmore and Williams to return as part of SpaceX’s Dragon Crew-9 mission in February 2025.
“We believed that Starliner could bring them home safely, but NASA didn’t want to chance it,” the employee said.
“They have their own PR issues and don’t need two dead astronauts,” he added. “But we didn’t think that there would be dead astronauts. We’d never have recommended that they use us if they thought that it was going to be unsafe for them.”
Steve Stich, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager, said the talks with Boeing “came down to a little disagreement about risk.”
Boeing did not comment on NASA’s decision to rely on SpaceX. Instead, the company told The Post it was focusing on making sure Starliner can return to Earth intact.
“Boeing continues to focus, first and foremost, on the safety of the crew and spacecraft,” the company said.
Boeing has spent about $1.5 billion in cost overruns beyond the initial $4.5 billion contract it secured with NASA, which is hoping to make Starliner its second mode of transportation to the ISS alongside SpaceX’s Crew Dragon.
Starliner’s issues may threaten that future and further damage Boeing’s already troubled reputation in the aerospace industry.
The company has been plagued by safety concerns since the start of the year, when a door panel blew off an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet after it appeared to be missing four key bolts.
Boeing has faced several other high-profile malfunctions of its planes, with at least 20 whistleblowers coming forward to voice concerns about safety and quality issues at the aerospace giant — some of whom have wound up dead.
