Boeing Reports Additional $125 Million Loss on Troubled Starliner

Boeing lost another $125 million on its Starliner spacecraft, according to a recent SEC filing. That’s on top of the over $1.1 billion in previously reported losses. 

In a quarterly report dated July 31, the aerospace company reported financial losses for the period between April 1 and June 30, 2024, citing mission delays in the Starliner’s first crewed flight test as the reason.

The Starliner CST-100 remains docked at the International Space Station, where it’s been since June 6. While the ship and its two astronauts were supposed to return to Earth on June 14, issues with the thrusters and helium leaks have led to the extended stay. Both Boeing and NASA have said the Starliner could safely return to Earth at any time but have opted to run extended tests to gather as much data as possible.  

On July 20, NASA and Boeing engineers completed a hot fire test of Starship’s thrusters and reported encouraging results. No return date has yet been confirmed, but on July 31, Boeing said in a statement that a team had gone through a simulated undocking procedure the day before. The Starliner had also undergone an exterior inspection, part of standard procedure before a spacecraft departs the ISS. Boeing said it is looking at several potential return dates in August. 

The crewed flight test had originally been scheduled for April 2023 but an issue with a reentry parachute system and flammable tape caused it to be pushed back. Those delays accounted for Boeing losing $288 million on the Starliner program in 2023 alone, the company said in the report. 

NASA selected the Starliner and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon for its Commercial Crew Program, aiming to use commercially operated vehicles to ferry astronauts to and from the ISS. While Crew Dragon is already operational, Starliner is still in development. To date, SpaceX has completed eight launches, while a ninth is scheduled for August 18. 

Boeing’s Starliner went into development in 2014 under a $4.2 billion NASA contract. After a series of seemingly endless technical hiccups and delays, however, Boeing finds itself shouldering the financial fallout. NASA isn’t covering the bill for these overruns; Boeing is on the hook for the escalating costs, as it struggles to bring Starliner up to speed.

Boeing acknowledged in the filing that the Starliner project will likely continue to lose money in the indefinite future, as the company has $238 million in capitalized precontract costs and $148 million in potential termination liabilities to suppliers related to possible future missions. 

“Risk remains that we may record additional losses in future periods,” the company wrote.