August 26th, 2024

Boeing employees 'humiliated' that upstart rival SpaceX will rescue astronauts

Boeing employees feel humiliated as NASA selects SpaceX to rescue astronauts stranded on the ISS due to Starliner issues, delaying their return to February 2025 amid ongoing safety concerns.

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Boeing employees 'humiliated' that upstart rival SpaceX will rescue astronauts

Boeing employees are reportedly feeling "humiliated" after NASA announced that SpaceX will rescue two astronauts, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) due to issues with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. The astronauts were initially expected to return after an eight-day mission that began in June 2024, but complications, including a helium leak and thruster failures, have delayed their return until February 2025. A Boeing employee expressed frustration over the situation, stating that the company has faced numerous embarrassments recently, and many employees harbor negative feelings towards SpaceX. Despite Boeing's belief that the Starliner could eventually return the astronauts safely, NASA opted for SpaceX's Crew Dragon for safety reasons, citing a disagreement over risk assessments. Boeing has invested heavily in the Starliner program, with costs exceeding the initial contract with NASA, and the ongoing issues may further damage the company's reputation in the aerospace industry.

- Boeing employees express humiliation over SpaceX's role in rescuing stranded astronauts.

- The astronauts have been stuck on the ISS since June 2024 due to Starliner issues.

- NASA chose SpaceX for safety concerns after assessing risks with Boeing's Starliner.

- Boeing has faced multiple setbacks and safety concerns in recent months.

- The return of the astronauts is now scheduled for February 2025.

Link Icon 15 comments
By @h_tbob - 5 months
It’s not humiliating to make mistakes. It’s humiliating to put passengers onto a broken vessel and risk their lives because you are too embarrassed to admit your mistakes.

Good job NASA for picking safety this time!

By @lucasyvas - 5 months
> They have their own PR issues and don’t need two dead astronauts,” he added. “But we didn’t think that there would be dead astronauts. We’d never have recommended that they use us if they thought that it was going to be unsafe for them.

I’m gonna go with NASA on this one I think haha.

By @TheCleric - 5 months
They should just be humiliated to work at Boeing at this point.
By @sorokod - 5 months
Apparently the entire narrative is built around statments made by "one worker" sometimes referred to as "the employee"

- what sort of news org is New York Post?

By @AtlasBarfed - 5 months
Yeah, uh WHICH employees?

Because Boeing is not an engineering led company. It is a bunch of scum sucking MBAs that attached themselves to a once-successful company and undermined any engineering focus, professionalism, and ethics from the entire management chain.

We're talking about a company that has murdered whistleblowers in all likelihood: https://slate.com/technology/2024/05/boeing-deaths-whistlebl...

This is a fundamentally amoral and corrupt company that should have executives in criminal jail.

By @chrisMyzel - 5 months
wouldn't a healthy - "we screwed up - why is that, how can we fix it" - be the right shift in company culture?

If Boeing officially states "we're fine with both options, NASA you decide" (according to NASA press conference) they should not be blaming anyone from that point. I understand that this comes from a tabloid and might not represent the company but clearly there seems to be a statistical relevant amount of screw ups at Boeing and none of that happening at SpaceX, why the hate, why not learn?

By @big-green-man - 5 months
The fact hubris shows through in this article, it's like they don't see the fundamental cause of their troubles.

They hate spacex, instead of I dunno, respecting a competent rival and learning from them. They don't think there will be dead astronauts, well NASA trusted their iudgement before and now they've got a dead airlock and two stranded astronauts. And they're butthurt that NASA won't listen to them?

> blames NASA

Why am I not surprised?

The article is probably fake (I don't trust anonymous sources anymore) but honestly it would be my image of what I would guess goes on at Boeing.

By @euroderf - 5 months
If Boeing (the corporate "person") still ends up making money on this gig, then Boeing (the corporate "person") will get over the humiliation of its cogs, and settle down with a grim new determination to make a buck at any cost.
By @TMWNN - 5 months
Title altered from original "Boeing employees 'humiliated' that upstart rival SpaceX will rescue astronauts stuck in space: 'It's shameful'" because of length.
By @shirro - 5 months
Another bullshit article from a Murdoch rag? If their Australian publications are any guide I would rate their integrity considerably lower than Boeing's management.
By @jqpabc123 - 5 months
Not too surprising a result after Boeing management undertook efforts to subvert their own successful engineering culture and outsource large chunks of it to try and cut costs.

This is yet another example of a disease inherent to American style corporate culture.

Management and sales are viewed as the income producing elements to be nurtured and rewarded. Engineering and production are the cost elements to be restrained, squeezed and controlled.

In summary, American corporate culture embodies a form of narcissistic personality disorder characterized by management's ever increasing rewards/salaries and declining competence. The results speak for themselves.

By @SMAAART - 5 months
Oh no!

Anyway.