The surprise is not that Boeing lost commercial crew but that it finished at all

[smp]

From Ars Technica:
"... Boeing's space division had never won a large fixed-price contract. Its leaders were used to operating in a cost-plus environment, in which Boeing could bill the government for all of its expenses and earn a fee. Cost overruns and delays were not the company's problem—they were NASA's. Now Boeing had to deliver a flyable spacecraft for a firm, fixed price.

Boeing struggled to adjust to this environment. When it came to complicated space projects, Boeing was used to spending other people's money. Now, every penny spent on Starliner meant one less penny in profit (or, ultimately, greater losses). This meant that Boeing allocated fewer resources to Starliner than it needed to thrive. ..." And there is much, much more in the article.

https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/05/t ... ed-at-all/

Here's hoping that Boeing falls to the back of the line for any future contracts.

smp

[Lady Fraktor]

I would love to respond Stephan but my reply would start very negative and quickly degenerate from there...