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I think it's clear that Boeing, ULA, and all of the "old guard" space companies are still trying to catch up to the disruption from SpaceX and the ensuing boom
by orenlindsey 2y ago
I think it's clear that Boeing, ULA, and all of the "old guard" space companies are still trying to catch up to the disruption from SpaceX and the ensuing boom of innovation that followed it. Let's face it - Starliner would not have even been thought of without SpaceX bringing competition. They were caught flat footed and had to scramble to catch up. Now we see the results of that - a capsule that's only partly baked.
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> Starliner would not have even been thought of without SpaceX bringing competition I may be wrong, but I believe both Starliner and Dragon were commissioned when Russia invaded Ukraine, thereby threatening NASA’s access to Soyuz.
- dboreham 2y agoThe first time presumably, in 2014.
- groby_b 2y agoYou are I think wrong. IIRC commissioned ~2010-ish, and first (failed) flight test in 2019. I do not think there is a world where NASA commissions something from Boeing, and it's kind of ready-ish 2 years later. There are meetings to be head! Congress folk to talk to! Overruns to be budgeted!
- subsubzero 2y agoI can't think of a larger moat in any industry where the leader has such a gigantic head start than spaceX. The "old guard" is so far behind why would the US Govt. or NASA give those companies any money now as it would be akin to setting it on fire. I mean spacex had 96 launches last year compared to ULAs 3. It just shows how much bureaucracy can just kill a companies innovation.
- imglorp 2y agoHead start? Boeing has 108 years of vast aerospace history and culture. The mistakes on this project are well summarized by an Ars article this week, mostly coming down to the well known management issues plus an inability to operate in a fixed price procurement setting; everything about their organization depended on cost plus structures. https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/05/the-surprise-is-not-that-boeing-lost-commercial-crew-but-that-it-finished-at-all/ https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/05/the-surprise-is-not-th...
- ceejayoz 2y agoSpaceX absolutely has a head-start now on reusability, launch costs, etc. Boeing's century of experience was supposed to give them a head start on Commercial Crew; they squandered it, and recent history has the resulting gap getting bigger, not smaller.
- subsubzero 2y agoexactly, I mean Boeing can't even make planes with doors that don't fall off in flight. I wouldn't look to Boeing for any engineering excellence in 2024.
- ethbr1 2y agoThey can obviously do that. They just can't do it fast enough or profitable enough to satisfy their managements' sales goals. Profit, manufacturing speed, reliability: pick 2.
- idontpost 2y ago[dead]
- elteto 2y agoHorse breeders had millennia of accumulated history and culture at the end of the 19th century. Boeing today is not the same Boeing of yesterday. All that history means nothing if you can’t execute now.