- [Reporter] Orbit insertion burn
was scheduled to take place 31 minutes after launch
but didn't happen on schedule.
- [Narrator] Boeing's Starliner spaceship
was sent back to the factory in August.
NASA had planned to launch the Starliner
for a crewless test flight to the ISS,
or International Space Station, this past summer.
But the Space Agency and Boeing postponed the mission
after a valve issue
was discovered on the vehicle before launch.
- Boeing executives have talked about this flight
as one of great importance for the company,
and staff had spent months working
through every issue from the first flight.
- [Narrator] Challenges with space technology
or vehicles aren't uncommon.
Both Boeing's Starliner project
and its competitor, SpaceX's Dragon crew capsule,
have been delayed multiple times.
But how did Boeing, a company with such a long history
at the cutting edge of the space industry
suffer so many setbacks?
- [Announcer] Five, four, three, two.
- [Narrator] Since the height of the Cold War,
Boeing's name has been synonymous
with ambitious American space endeavors.
- Some of its biggest accomplishments
include vehicles for the Apollo program,
which sent humans to the moon.
- [Narrator] In 2014, NASA contracted two companies,
SpaceX and Boeing, to create two different space vehicles
that would serve as the next generation of spaceships
to transport crew to the ISS,
- SpaceX had been around for a little more than a decade.
It was still a relatively young company.
Still building out its operations and technology.
Whereas Boeing had been working with NASA for decades.
- [Narrator] Since the Space Shuttle's retirement in 2011,
and until 2020, the US did not have the capability
to transport crew to orbit.
(rocket blasting) - [Announcer] And liftoff.
- [Narrator] For about a decade,
NASA relied on Russia's Soyuz rocket
to get American crews to the ISS.
- Boeing's Starliner was designed to take astronauts
to the International Space Station,
and get them home.
Boeing's is attached on top of a rocket,
which separates after that initial launch.
It's meant to travel and dock with the Space Station.
- [Announcer] And liftoff.
The rise of Starliner and a new era in human space flight.
- [Narrator] In 2019, Boeing and NASA attempted
to send an uncrewed Starliner to the ISS
with much fanfare.
- [Announcer] Passing one minute into flight.
- [Narrator] But that test flight failed due
to two programming errors:
the spacecraft's internal timer was off by 11 hours,
stranding it in the wrong orbit, and preventing it
from reaching the International Space Station.
Boeing CST-100 Starliner capsule did, however,
return to Earth safely.
- So we did have obviously some challenges today.
When the spacecraft separated from the launch vehicle,
we did not get the orbital insertion burn
that we were hoping for.
(rocket roaring)
- [Narrator] Another potentially catastrophic error
was fixed during the mission.
- One error sent the Starliner to the wrong orbit,
and then the second involved software
that controls thrusters that helped angle the craft
to avoid damaging a heat shield,
which protects the vehicle during reentry.
The software emerged after the flight failed
as a sort of a major issue
that Boeing needed to address for a future attempt.
- [Narrator] After the flight, NASA's leadership
was concerned that Boeing had a broader cultural problem
in light of the 737 MAX crisis,
which involved two fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
The Agency ordered a sweeping outside review,
resulting in dozens of recommendations.
- The failure of the 2019 Starliner test mission
was a big deal for Boeing.
Boeing was still grappling with the fallout
from the 737 MAX crisis.
A successful Starliner mission was seen as a way
to help restore its reputation
for reliability and engineering prowess.
- [Narrator] In December 2019,
Boeing's board, already frustrated by the MAX crisis,
ousted Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg.
Then in August, Boeing and the Space Agency said
they would again postpone the redo of the test mission
because some valves on the Starliner's propulsion system
became stuck before launch.
NASA declined to comment last week.
The Agency said earlier in October
that it and Boeing were making progress,
investigating the Starliner's valves.
In a statement, Boeing said, "It is focused
on supporting our NASA customer,
and the path forward will be driven by safety,
and thorough testing.
We have full confidence in our ability
to deliver Starliner for its ultimate mission."
NASA said the vehicle won't launch again this year.
The Space Agency also shifted two astronauts
who had been assigned to fly on Starliner missions
to a future SpaceX flight.
- NASA said it was shifting these astronauts
because it needed to ensure
that those astronauts were getting space experience,
and it wanted to give Boeing time
to develop the Starliner.
- [Narrator] These most recent Starliner setbacks come
at a challenging time for Boeing's business.
After making record revenue in 2018,
Boeing has lost nearly half that amount,
largely due to a sharp drop
in commercial aircraft deliveries
and MAX-related charges.
Today the company is more aligned
on its space business than it was in the past.
Boeing's space program is a key part
of its defense, space and security unit.
- Boeing generated more than six billion in revenue
from space-related work last year,
and that accounted for a little more than 10%
of all of the company's revenue for that year.
- [Narrator] Today, Boeing's Starliner development
has cost $3.2 billion,
while SpaceX's Dragon has cost far less at 2.6 billion.
What's more, unlike Boeing,
SpaceX has managed to get crewed missions into space.
- [Announcer] There's the crew on the right-hand side
of your screen.
I think I see some more thumbs up there.
(announcer chuckling) (dramatic music)