NASA will pay about $183 million for each astronaut seat it takes in Boeing capsules to the ISS .
NASA is paying twice as much money for each astronaut that it will send in the capsules of the Boeing company to theInternational Space Station (ISS).
According to Ars Technica , calculations indicate that NASA is paying around 183 million dollars for each seat on Starliner , a capsule that has not yet sent any missions to space.
Fair enough?
These days alone, NASA has contracted SpaceX for five manned missions to the ISS for a total of 14 through 2030.
For this, it is paying an approximate amount of 88 million dollars per seat, less than half of what it is paying for “the competition”.
But while with SpaceX it celebrates launch every semester, with Boeing it has not yet achieved any.
The company has made little progress since the capsule had a flawed test in 2019, limping into orbit during its second attempt in May while suffering engine failure along the way , but with no crew on board.
Starliner ‘s first manned mission is tentatively scheduled for early next year, with NASA assigning two astronauts to take the capsule for its maiden manned test voyage in June.
with problems still
Boeing may struggle to find available rockets to launch its spacecraft, with the United Launch Alliance (ULA) retiring its Atlas V rocket after six Starliner missions .
That means the company has to turn to ULA’s other untested Vulcan rocket, Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin, or even SpaceX , for its capsule trips.
Since NASA ‘s commercial crew program is priced fixed, Boeing will likely have to bear the costs of any budget overruns incurred. In fact, sources told the outlet that the Starliner program has already proven to be a huge waste of money for the company.