If they don't fix it, what will their reputation be like? In isolation giving up is probably the correct thing to do, if it wasn't so extremely public.
If they drop this program they basically fuck over NASA. And Boeing is still the prime contractor on SLS. Meaning that NASA could very well finally stop playing nice over SLS.
And if Boeing wants to ever recover a chance on major NASA contracts, they can't let NASA down on this. Unless the want to just leave the space business.
That's not really true. Can you show me the evidence for that?
The reality is that large parts of NASA are extremely supportive of SLS. We know from reporting that this is true. It was NASA Johnson engineers who pushed the design. No NASA Administrator has ever dared to even question the SLS or publicly speak in criticism at best the have lightly pushed for solutions around SLS.
NASA used to be nice over SLS was that they really didn't have a choice + congress pressure (hiring people who lost their jobs due to space shuttle cancelation) but now it seems like NASA _does_ have a choice to choose an alternative (and waaay cheaper) vehicle over SLS. Curious whether those senators will keep their pressure.
> Unless the want to just leave the space business.
Do they really have a choice...? I haven't been following this very closely, but it seems like SpaceX is eating their lunch regardless, and Boeing the overall organization is in crisis, isn't it? Will they even still be around in a year or two, much less continue to make space things for NASA?
I mean, yes they might close up shop entirely but that's not really an outcome they want.
Really, Boeing needs to have a come to jesus moment on several different things - they need to say "hey so clearly SLS is a mistake, we need to develop something like Starship, give us $5 billion we'll make it happen."
Although it also seems like they need to have a better engineering culture and organizationally they would prefer to retaliate against engineers trying to improve their culture. If they don't fix that, probably can't fix anything. But also if they had a good engineering culture they probably would've scrapped SLS 5 years ago.
Europa Clipper was supposed to fly on SLS. That not happening saved several billion dollars. SLS is a fat disgusting barrel of pork that should be canceled and hidden for the sake of NASA's own reputation, not to mention taxpayers. If they continue with SLS when Starship is in serial production and flying regularly, it will make NASA look like one of the most inefficient and corrupt organizations in American history. It will be NASA's own neck on the chopping block if they don't distance themselves from SLS soon.
Sadly this is wishful thinking. But I must push back against the “corruption”. NASA cannot allocate its own resources by design. It’s all from congress who happily will pour money into jobs in their districts.
