Boeing
has run into another problem with its reusable spacecraft, Starliner, which is designed to take astronauts to the International Space Station–and to compete with the SpaceX Dragon space capsule.
A crewed Starliner test flight scheduled on July 21 has been delayed by
Boeing
and NASA.
It’s another mark against the Starliner program as well as the traditional space business. Still, space is hard and and Boeing (ticker: BA), along with NASA, will always proceed with caution.
Preparations for the flight identified two issues: One related to the parachute system and the other was related to wire harnesses. The tape designed to protect harnesses from damage was found to be flammable.
That means the flight test is off. NASA and the crew said they were disappointed that they won’t fly in July at a Thursday news conference, adding they supported the decision to delay.
Boeing has run into delays and developmental issues with its Starliner spaceship in the past. A 2019 test failed to dock with the International Space Station. And a 2021 test flight was delayed because of a valve issue. Starliner eventually successfully docked with the International Space Station in May 2022.
Starliner sits on top of a United Launch Alliance, or ULA, Atlas V rocket. ULA is a space launch joint venture between
Lockheed Martin
(LMT) and Boeing. The ship is designed to take a mix of crew and cargo into low-Earth orbit. It is also designed to be reused 10 times.
The system competes with SpaceX’s Dragon crew capsule and Falcon rockets. That system is currently in use. SpaceX’s first crewed test flight happened in May 2020. That was the first crewed launch from American soil since 2011, the year the space shuttle was retired.
The reasons aren’t always obvious to outsiders. But it appears SpaceX has been able to produce more consistent performance as a vertically integrated space company. SpaceX makes the rockets, the rocket engines and the spaceship. The traditional space industry has a more complicated value chain.
NASA said it still supports the Boeing Starliner program. It wants to have two suppliers to send crew and cargo to the International Space Station.
Boeing stock isn’t taking a hit from the Starliner issue. Shares are are up 0.6% in premarket trading Friday.
S&P 500
and
Dow Jones Industrial Average
futures are both up about 0.5%.
Boeing’s space business is a subset of its Defense, Space & Security business segment. That segment generated $6.5 billion in first quarter sales, out of a total $17.9 billion in revenue. Boeing recorded a first-quarter operating loss of $212 million in the defense/space segment. That loss is more related to contract issues in the defense portion of the business than problems in space.
Investors are typically far more concerned with Boeing’s commercial airplane business, which is recovering from Covid-19’s impact on global air travel. Coming into Friday trading, Boeing stock is up about 48% over the past 12 months.
Write to Al Root at [email protected]
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