NASA’s dropped a bombshell 311-page report on Boeing’s Starliner fiasco, painting a picture of leadership meltdowns, shouting spats, and a pressure-cooker vibe while two astronauts floated in limbo. It’s a raw autopsy of the 2024 crewed debut gone sideways.
Finalized last November and unsealed this February, it slaps a “Type A” mishap label on the flight—NASA’s top-tier for near-catastrophes, rubbing shoulders with Challenger and Columbia in risk-of-life stakes.
New boss Jared Isaacman didn’t mince words, blasting old guard for chasing program milestones over safety. The push to keep Boeing as SpaceX’s crew rival bred distrust, where engineer red flags got sidelined.
Ties soured fast; NASA brass tiptoed, scared Boeing might bail on Commercial Crew if prodded on specs. Result? A “go-with-the-flow” risk appetite clashing with human-spaceflight basics.
Trouble hit post-June 2024 liftoff: five thrusters crapped out en route to ISS, sparking control chaos. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams pulled manual heroics for docking.
Ground control? A circus. Meetings devolved into “ugliest ever” scream-fests, per insiders—no playbook for hashing out the safe return path, fraying nerves as months ticked by.
Tech culprits: Teflon poppets in valves ballooned, choking oxidizer; helium leaks galore; no backup for deorbit glitches—a flaw lurking since day one.
NASA bailed, flying Starliner home riderless in September 2024. Wilmore and Williams cooled heels on ISS nine months, hitching back on SpaceX’s Dragon in early 2025.
Blame piled on “schedule crush” from 30+ scrubbed launches, breeding exhaustion. Isaacman: fix gear, sure—but rebuild the culture of candor first.
Boeing’s hemorrhaged $2B since 2016, now tweaking thrusters and transparency. NASA trimmed Starliner’s tab to $3.7B, operational hops from six to four. ISS retires 2030; clock’s ticking.
No crew flights till propulsion’s bulletproof. Cargo demo eyed for late 2026—if Boeing nails the bar.
This unredacted tell-all bucks Commercial Crew’s sunny spin. Isaacman vows leadership shakeups to reclaim safety’s throne.
