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Back in 2014, the United States held its own little internal space race. NASA chose two companies to bring us back to the International Space Station, providing them with funding to build a crewed space vehicle: One established, long-proven aerospace engineering firm, and one upstart run by a guy who names all his kids like theyre Warhammer figures. Ten years later, the race has a clear loser: Boeing.

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Boeing received $4.2 billion in federal funding to build its Starliner system, far more than the $2.6 billion allowance SpaceX got for its Dragon. Its far and away the more established competitor, with over a century of aeronautics experience, yet Starliner is only now preparing for its first crewed flight four years after Dragons, and $1.5 billion over budget. Ars Technica looked into what went wrong:

But at least SpaceX was in its natural environment. Boeings space division had never won a large fixed-price contract. Its leaders were used to operating in a cost-plus environment, in which Boeing could bill the government for all of its expenses and earn a fee. Cost overruns and delays were not the companys problemthey were NASAs. Now Boeing had to deliver a flyable spacecraft for a firm, fixed price.

Boeing struggled to adjust to this environment. When it came to complicated space projects, Boeing was used to spending other peoples money. Now, every penny spent on Starliner meant one less penny in profit (or, ultimately, greater losses). This meant that Boeing allocated fewer resources to Starliner than it needed to thrive.

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In a fixed-price contract, a company gets paid when it achieves certain milestones. Complete a software review? Earn a payment. Prove to NASA that youve built a spacecraft component you said you would? Earn a payment. This kind of contract structure naturally incentivized managers to reach milestones.

The problem is that while a company might do something that unlocks a payment, the underlying work may not actually be complete. Its a bit like students copying homework assignments throughout the semester. They get good grades but havent done all of the learning necessary to understand the material. This is only discovered during a final exam, in class. Essentially, then, Boeing kept carrying technical debt forward so that additional work was lumped onto the final milestones.

Boeing, as weve all recently seen, is no longer an aeronautics company its a profit company, the kind of business you get when MBAs hellbent on efficiency take over from the engineers. That mindset didnt vibe well with a government contract, and the so-called efficiencies never showed up to help. Ars Technica continues:

There was no single flight software team at Boeing. The responsibilities were spread out. A team at Kennedy Space Center in Florida handled the ground systems software, which kept Starliner healthy during ground tests and the countdown until the final minutes before liftoff. Separately, a team at Boeings facilities in Houston near Johnson Space Center managed the flight software for when the vehicle took off.

Neither team trusted one another, however. When the ground software team would visit their colleagues in Texas, and vice versa, the interactions were limited. The two teams ended up operating mostly in silos, not really sharing their work with one another. The Florida software team came to believe that the Texas team working on flight software had fallen behind but didnt want to acknowledge it. (A Boeing spokesperson denied there was any such friction).

The full Ars Technica piece is worth a read, as it goes into the myriad ways that Boeing failed with the Starliner project. Cost fixations, siloed development, a lack of proper testing, even the companys lack of vertical integration all worked together to kneecap the project. Going to space is hard enough when you arent focused on doing it as cheaply as possible.

A version of this article originally appeared on Jalopnik.

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How Boeing lost the space race to Elon Musk's SpaceX - Quartz

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At the meeting, TPWD commissioners acknowledged that SpaceX had already alienated some locals. There's clearly a frustration among the people there about the road closures and all that kind of stuff, Commissioner Paul Foster said.

They stressed they were only approving negotiations and that the land deal could still fall apart. Because of the other processes here, this could still be turned down, Vice-Chairman Oliver Bell explained.

Since TPWD initially acquired land in Boca Chica through a National Coastal Wetlands grant, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will need to sign off on the deal. A FWS spokesperson said TPWD has not yet started an environmental assessment that would be required to finalize the sale.

Then theres the lawsuit, brought by nonprofits like the Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas, Save RGV and the South Texas Environmental Justice Network. It argues TPWD does not have authority to make the land deal and seeks to have a judge declare it unlawful.

When TPWD applied for a National Coastal Wetlands grant in 1992, the agency said it would permanently preserve the land to protect it from imminent development threats, the lawsuit states. Among the exhibits in the case are comments the agency submitted to the FAA in 2021, in which it expressed concerns about direct loss of habitat and unexpected anomalies (e.g., explosions) due to SpaceX.

The crux of this lawsuit is about giving away what belonged to the people, said Marisa Perales, a partner at Austin-based Perales, Allmon & Ice who is representing the plaintiffs. Its about the government not so much SpaceX, but our elected officials and appointed officials giving away what belonged to the people.

One plaintiff in the case says its had plenty of experience with the government giving its land away. That plaintiff, the Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas, has fought to preserve wildlands in the region for years.

Tribal Chair Juan Mancias says the group has around 1,600 enrolled members. While not a recognized tribe, the groups they claim lineage from undeniably lived in this region. As early as 1940, the Smithsonian Institute had gathered linguistic data on Comecrudo people here. These days, the group prefers to call itself the Estok Gna, a phrase that roughly translates to the human person.

Mancias traveled to the TPWD meeting in Austin to speak against the land deal. I don't consent or give consent to any of the swapping or land sale, he told commissioners in March. This land is our ancestral land.

In an interview, Mancias said Boca Chica beach was sacred the place where the Creator made the first woman. Then, later, he created the first man with the leftovers," he said.

Mancias seemed largely unbothered by the Esto'k Gnas unrecognized status. I would say the white man cant tell me who I am, he said. I know who I am. I know how I grew up. I had a good pair of grandparents who told me who I was.

The group first asked the Bureau of Indian Affairs for recognition in 1998 but being unrecognized had its benefits. Because were not recognized, Mancias added wryly, we dont have the opportunity for them to take our federal contracts away. They cant threaten us like that and tell us to be quiet.

On a recent afternoon, Basald wandered along Boca Chica beach, collecting seashells. He comes out here when he can, sometimes to pray with other Estok Gna.

Growing up in what he calls an assimilated family, Basald said reconnecting with his Native heritage was a gradual process. It started as a teenager, with questions like: Where are we from? What kind of Native are we? He threw himself into studying Native groups, ultimately earning a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Arizona in 2009. In 2017, he formally enrolled in the Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation.

Like Mancias, Basald sees the proposed SpaceX land deal as part of a long legacy of land-taking in the area. White people from another part of the world came over here and projected the fallacy that there was nothing here, he said. In their minds, because there was nothing here, they could create whatever they wanted.

Leaving Boca Chica beach, Basald drove past the sites of new LNG terminals another environmental fight in which the Estok Gna are involved. Not long ago, he said, this land had mangroves. They are continuing to destroy the world, and thats how you get climate catastrophe, he added later. Its all connected.

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In South Texas, SpaceX looms over iconic beach - Courthouse News Service

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Following a daylong delay, SpaceX successfully flew its 75th Falcon 9 out of Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., late Thursday, as a veteran booster roared into the night with 20 Starlink internet communications satellites, including 13 birds equipped with Direct-to-Cell functionality. The B1082 coreflying for the fourth time after previous space-bound treks in January, February and just last monthrose from Space Launch Complex (SLC)-4E at the mountain-ringed West Coast site at 9:30 p.m. PDT and returned eight minutes later to a pinpoint landing on the deck of the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship (ASDS), Of Course I Still Love You, situated offshore in the Pacific Ocean.

Originally slated to fly yesterday, a mere eight hours after another Starlink-laden Falcon 9 mission from the East Coast, SpaceX elected to stand down B1083 for undisclosed reasons. Teams realigned for a backup opportunity extending from 8:20 p.m. PDT through 10:18 p.m. EDT Thursday, with the mission finally going airborne a little past the halfway point of the launch window at 9:30 p.m. PDT.

Aboard the booster were 20 Starlinks, including 13 with Direct-to-Cell capabilities, which permit mobile network providers to offer seamless global access to texting, calling and browsing, whether on land, lakes or coastal waters, without the need to change hardware or firmware. The first Direct-to-Cell satellites flew in January and within six days of reaching orbit SpaceX engineers successfully sent their first text messages using the system.

As a network, Starlink enables high-speed and low-latency internet provision to over 70 sovereign nations and international markets in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Oceania and Africa. Last week, the Hawthorne, Calif.-headquartered launch services provider announced that Starlink connectivity is now available in Uruguay, bringing to 76 the total number of sovereign nations or regions to receive coverage.

The downsized V2 Mini satellites, first flown in February of last year, boast three to four times greater usable bandwidth than earlier Starlink iterations. V2 Minis include key technologiessuch as more powerful phased-array antennas and the use of E-Band for backhaulwhich will allow Starlink to provide 4x more capacity per satellite than earlier iterations, SpaceX explained. Among other enhancements, V2 Minis are equipped with new argon Hall thrusters for on-orbit maneuvering.

Florida-based intercity operator Brightline adopted Starlink on its trains in 2023, the first passenger rail service in the world to do so. Additionally, El Salvadors Ministry of Education has begun integrating Starlink capability into its schools to help close the digital divide between urban and remote rural communities and 50 Rwandan schools are now connected via Starlinks high-speed internet service. As of April, Starlink reportedly had about 2.7 million registered subscribers or customers worldwide.

Flying last nights mission, B1082 is a relative newcomer to the SpaceX fleet, having flown 2024s inaugural SpaceX mission in early January. A second launch in February set records including the 300th flight of a Falcon 9 and the 200th consecutive safe landing of a booster, while a third last month lofted the U.S. Space Forces USSF-62 mission with the first Weather System Follow-on Microwave (WSF-M) meteorology satellite.

It also marked the 75th launch of a Falcon 9 out of Vandenberg since September 2013 and the 15th so far this year. That accomplishment has been made possible by 16 boosters, which have delivered more than 1,400 Starlinks, nine batches of Iridium NEXT global mobile communications satellites, five military missions for the National Reconnaissance Office, the U.S. Space Force and the Space Development Agency (SDA) and four multi-customer Transporter stacks, totaling 289 discrete payloads and covering a smorgasbord of science, technology and educational outreach disciplines and applications.

Added to that list, Vandenberg Falcons boosted several Earth-observation payloads and NASAs Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) into deep space to investigate the asteroid Didymos and impact its tiny companion, Dimorphos. With an increased launch tempo achieved in the last two years alone, more than half of these 75 West Coast missions have flown since the start of 2023.

And that tempo has seen a rapid uptick in the numbers of Vandenberg Falcons flying more regularly than ever before. SpaceX accomplished its first dual-launch month from the Californian site in February 2022, then saw three flights for the first time in April of last year and completed its first four-mission month last January.

Last year, SpaceX managed a personal-best-beating 28 Falcon flights from the West Coast at an average cadence of a launch each 13 days. And 2024s achievement of 15 flights inside the first half of the year is currently averaging a mission every 8.6 days, which a back-of-the-envelope extrapolation suggests as many as 42 Vandenberg launches before the New Years Eve bell tolls.

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SpaceX Continues Record-Setting Year, Launches 75th Vandenberg Mission - AmericaSpace

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Graphic: Here is how Boeing's Starliner and SpaceX's Dragon stack up - USA TODAY

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SpaceX yesterday completed one-half of a planned Wednesday double-header of Falcon 9 launches, successfully flying a booster out of Florida but standing down a second mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. Veteran B1083 took flight from historic Pad 39A at Floridas Kennedy Space Center (KSC) at 2:48 p.m. EDT, near the end of the days expansive launch window, but teams elected to stand down B1082s mission from the West Coast and reschedule for a backup opportunity on Thursday.

Weather in Florida was exceptionally fine for the first flight of the day, with a 90-percent probability of acceptable conditions and a launch window spanning almost four hours, from 11 a.m. EDT through 2:48 p.m. EDT. Moisture extent is limited to the very lowest levels of the atmosphere, noted the 45th Weather Squadron at Patrick Space Force Base in an update, so there will be only a slight chance of Cumulus Cloud Rule violation at sea breeze onset during the midday hours.

Nevertheless, SpaceX delayed T-0 deeper into the window and B1083 finally went airborne at 2:42 p.m. EDT, spearing uphill for the third time in as many consecutive months. This particular booster entered service early in March when she lofted Dragon Endeavour and Crew-8s Matt Dominick, Mike Barratt, Jeanette Epps and Aleksandr Grebenkin on the first leg of their trek to the International Space Station (ISS), while a second mission in Aprils second week delivered a 23-strong batch of Starlink internet communications satellitestotaling 37,700 pounds (17,100 kilograms)into orbit.

Her third launch was laden with an additional 23 Starlinks, which were successfully deployed a little past 65 minutes into yesterdays mission, bringing to more than 700 the total number of these flat-packed satellites flown on over 30 missions so far in 2024. Meanwhile, B1083 returned to a smooth touchdown on the expansive deck of the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship (ASDS), A Shortfall of Gravitas.

As a network, Starlink enables high-speed and low-latency internet provision to over 70 sovereign nations and international markets in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Oceania and Africa. Last month, the Hawthorne, Calif.-headquartered launch services provider announced that Starlink connectivity is now available in Albania and Micronesia, bringing to 75 the total number of sovereign nations or regions to receive coverage.

The downsized V2 Mini satellites, first flown in February of last year, boast three to four times greater usable bandwidth than earlier Starlink iterations. V2 Minis include key technologiessuch as more powerful phased-array antennas and the use of E-Band for backhaulwhich will allow Starlink to provide 4x more capacity per satellite than earlier iterations, SpaceX explained. Among other enhancements, V2 Minis are equipped with new argon Hall thrusters for on-orbit maneuvering.

Florida-based intercity operator Brightline adopted Starlink on its trains in 2023, the first passenger rail service in the world to do so. Additionally, El Salvadors Ministry of Education has begun integrating Starlink capability into its schools to help close the digital divide between urban and remote rural communities and 50 Rwandan schools are now connected via Starlinks high-speed internet service.

And in January, SpaceX lofted its first six Direct-to-Cell Starlinks, which permit mobile network providers to offer seamless global access to texting, calling and browsing, whether on land, lakes or coastal waters, without the need to change hardware or firmware. Within six days of that first launch, SpaceX engineers sent and received their first text messages via Direct-to-Cell and as of April Starlink reportedly had about 2.7 million registered subscribers or customers worldwide.

Attention then turned to Space Launch Complex (SLC)-4E on the West Coast, where the flight-proven B1082 booster stood ready with her own batch of 20 Starlinks, including 13 with Direct-to-Cell functionality. Targeting a three-hour window from 7:48 p.m. PDT through 10:30 p.m. PDT Wednesdau, this mission will mark the 75th Falcon 9 flight out of mountain-ringed Vandenberg since September 2013 and the 15th so far this year.

B1082 is also a relative newcomer to the Falcon 9 fleet, having first flown on 2024s initial SpaceX mission in early January. A second launch in mid-February achieved records including the 300th flight of a Falcon 9 vehicle and the 200th consecutive safe landing of a booster, while a third last month supported the U.S. Space Forces USSF-62 mission with the first Weather System Follow-on Microwave (WSF-M) meteorology satellite.

An on-time launch at 7:48 p.m. EDT might have seen a pair of Falcon 9s roar uphill from opposing U.S. coastlines only eight hours apart, but it was not to be. Teams stood down the Vandenberg mission, which is now rescheduled to fly in a 118-minute window extending from 8:20 p.m. PDT through 10:18 p.m. PDT Thursday.

As the 75th Vandenberg mission in a little more than a decade, tonights accomplishment has been built by 16 Falcon 9 boosters, which since September 2013 have delivered more than 1,400 Starlinks, nine batches of Iridium NEXT global mobile communications satellites, five military missions for the National Reconnaissance Office, U.S. Space Force and Space Development Agency (SDA) and four multi-customer Transporter stacks, totaling 289 discrete payloads covering a smorgasbord of science, technology and educational outreach disciplines and applications.

Added to that list, Vandenberg Falcons boosted several Earth-observation payloads and NASAs Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) into deep space to investigate the asteroid Didymos and impact its tiny companion, Dimorphos. With an increased launch tempo achieved in the last two years alone, more than half of these 75 West Coast missions have flown since the start of 2023.

And that tempo has seen a rapid uptick in the numbers of Vandenberg Falcons flying more regularly than ever before. SpaceX accomplished its first dual-launch month from the Californian site in February 2022, then saw three flights for the first time in April of last year and completed its first four-mission month last January.

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SpaceX Targets Thursday Evening for Weeks Second Falcon 9 Launch - AmericaSpace

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