Boeing "incredibly excited" to serve as nation's only astronaut transportation

"We couldn't provide detailed pricing to the CLD suppliers."

The short version

• The space agency’s announcement confirms reporting by Ars Technica earlier this month on NASA’s plans to maintain access to low-Earth orbit after the impending retirement of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon vehicle.
• “I do not think it’s a secret that SpaceX intends to sunset older platforms like Falcon and Dragon as they concentrate on their next-generation capability, Starship,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said during a news conference on Monday afternoon.
• Dragon has successfully been flying NASA astronauts into orbit for more than six years.

What happened

Boeing, by contrast, has struggled mightily to bring the Starliner vehicle into service for NASA. Starliner experienced numerous issues on uncrewed test flights in 2019 and 2022; most seriously, thruster issues nearly led to the catastrophic loss of two astronauts during the spacecraft’s first crew test flight in June 2024.

Why it matters

There had been some discussion that Boeing would walk away from the Starliner program, which has incurred more than $2 billion in losses for the company.

Summary by Nerd News Network. Read the full article at Ars Technica via the links above and below.