Boeing employees humiliated after NASA decides to use Musk’s SpaceX to rescue astronauts from ISS | World news

In a cosmic twist of comedy, Boeing Employees are feeling the heat NASA announced that SpaceXThe upstart competitor, run by Elon Musk, will save the two Astronauts Stranded on the International Space Station (ISS). The predicament highlights Boeing’s recent missteps and has left many inside the aerospace giant feeling „humiliated,” according to the New York Post.
Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, who launched to the ISS in June with Boeing trouble Starliner The capsule will spend just eight days in orbit. Instead, they face a six-month delay before returning to Earth, due to a leaky starliner and malfunctioning thrusters. Correction? The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft will bring them home in February 2025.

The news struck a nerve at Boeing, where morale is said to be „in the toilet.” A Florida-based Boeing worker expressed frustration, saying: “We’ve had so many embarrassments lately, we’re under the microscope. It just got 100 times worse. The employees’ hatred of SpaceX is palpable: “We hate SpaceX. We talk about them all the time and now they are bailing us out,” the Post quoted him as saying.
The worker continued, “This is shameful. I’m ashamed, I’m horrified. With internal tensions running high, many at Boeing accuse NASA of treating NASA as a public embarrassment.
NASA’s decision to turn to SpaceX comes more than two months after evaluating Starliner’s performance. Despite Boeing’s assurances that the capsule was fit to bring Wilmore and Williams home safely, NASA deemed it too risky. „We hoped the Starliner could bring them home safely, but NASA didn’t want to take a chance,” the Boeing employee explained. „They have their own PR problems and don’t need two dead astronauts.”
Steve Stich, NASA’s commercial crew program manager, pointed to „a little disagreement about risk” in the talks with Boeing. While Boeing declined to comment directly on NASA’s decision, the company was focused on making sure the Starliner eventually returned to Earth intact. „Boeing continues to focus, first and foremost, on the safety of the crew and the spacecraft,” the company said.
The Starliner’s woes add to Boeing’s mounting problems, which already include a $1.5 billion cost overrun on its $4.5 billion NASA contract and a string of safety concerns. Earlier this year, a door panel exploded on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet, sparking further investigation. Boeing has faced high-profile outages and whistleblower reports highlighting safety and quality issues—some of which have tragically resulted in fatalities.