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Boeing tries to catch up to SpaceX after plenty of drama - CNN

Boeing tries to catch up to SpaceX after plenty of drama - CNN

Boeing tries to catch up to SpaceX after plenty of drama - CNN
May 19, 2022 1 min, 18 secs

There was a botched test flight, software issues, sticky valves and a lawsuit involving an executive at a subcontractor who is said to have lost his leg during a Starliner test.

After initially giving SpaceX closer scrutiny than Boeing, officials later said they regretted that as many of Starliner's issues slipped through the cracks.

The company's Crew Dragon spacecraft has now logged six astronaut launches for NASA since it entered service in 2020.

Meanwhile, Boeing is still trying to get through an uncrewed test flight.

Boeing's awards totaled $4.2 billion, a significant markup compared to the $2.6 billion SpaceX was given, though the company has said that's because SpaceX had already received millions for development of an uncrewed version of its Dragon vehicle.

Though both spacecrafts were expected to blast astronauts into space just a few years later, as the end of the decade neared, it became clear that SpaceX was outpacing Boeing.

When the company's first uncrewed orbital flight test, dubbed OFT-1, reached the launch pad in December 2019, SpaceX had already beaten it by six months.

And almost immediately after Starliner launched on December 20, 2019, it was clear something was wrong.

Later, it was revealed that Starliner's internal clock was off by 11 hours, which caused the spacecraft to misfire and stumble off course, NASA and Boeing officials told reporters.

A NASA astronaut, Barry "Butch" Wilmore, was assigned to take Ferguson's place.

Sticky valves and Florida humidity

Boeing believed it was ready to put Starliner back to the test last year, and it scheduled a second attempt at the orbital flight test — this one dubbed OFT-2 — for August.

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