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IIRC it took SpaceX ~7 years. It's kind of useful perspective that when the contracts for this were being awarded, Boeing argued that SpaceX shouldn't get the
by dotnet00 2y ago
IIRC it took SpaceX ~7 years.
It's kind of useful perspective that when the contracts for this were being awarded, Boeing argued that SpaceX shouldn't get the contract at all because Boeing, having "human spaceflight heritage", was guaranteed to do the better job than an inexperienced upstart. Plus the extra $400M they extorted out of NASA despite this being a fixed price, milestone based contract.
- nordsieck 2y ago> when the contracts for this were being awarded, Boeing argued that SpaceX shouldn't get the contract at all because Boeing, having "human spaceflight heritage", was guaranteed to do the better job than an inexperienced upstart. I think it's useful to note that this wasn't just Boeing's opinion - it was pretty widely believed in the industry. And not without reason - Boeing had Shuttle heritage. Thankfully, NASA kept both awards.
- Retric 2y agoIt wan’t an inaccurate assessment. SpaceX was working on life support for a crewed module 14+ years before their first successful manned launch. IE: It took them longer than Boeing. However the missing context is SpaceX put in 8+ years into the project before getting the award which offset most of the issues. So it worked out well for NASA, but SpaceX was approaching it more as a prestige project than a profitable one.