Boeing Employees 'Humiliated' As SpaceX To Rescue Astronauts Butch Wilmore, Sunita Williams Due To Starliner Issues

Boeing employees are reportedly feeling “humiliated” after NASA announced that two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) due to issues with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft will have to be rescued by SpaceX next year.

Butch Wilmore and Indian-American Sunita Williams, who went to the ISS in June for what was supposed to be an 8-day mission, will now have to wait until February 2025 for a SpaceX Crew Dragon to bring them home safely. This is because the Starliner they were supposed to return on is leaking helium and has thruster problems.

One anonymous Florida-based Boeing space program employee said this decision is the latest embarrassment for the aerospace giant, which is already facing backlash from several commercial flight incidents earlier this year, the New York Post (NYP) reported.

‘Disagreement about risk’

“We have had so many embarrassments lately, we’re under a microscope. This just made it, like, 100 times worse,” the worker was quoted as saying by NYP. “We hate SpaceX. We talk s–t about them all the time, and now they’re bailing us out.”

The unnamed employee claimed morale is “in the toilet” and many at Boeing are blaming NASA for the humiliation. However, NASA Commercial Crew Program manager Steve Stich said the decision came down to a “little disagreement about risk”.

Boeing maintains Starliner could safely return the astronauts, but NASA decided to rely on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon mission in February 2025 after over two months of testing the troubled craft still docked at the ISS. The Starliner suffered a helium leak before launch, which worsened when it docked at the ISS. It also experienced multiple thruster failures, though many issues were mitigated.

Boeing has spent about $1.5 billion in cost overruns beyond the initial $4.5 billion NASA contract for Starliner, which was meant to be NASA’s second crew transportation mode to the ISS alongside SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. The ongoing issues may threaten this future and further damage Boeing’s reputation in the aerospace industry.