"Too big to fail": The expression undoubtedly best describes the aircraft manufacturer Boeing. The Seattle-born giant suffered another severe setback on Saturday, June 1, when its inaugural flight to transport astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) was scrapped for the second time in less than a month, 3 minutes and 50 seconds before launch. Data from a control computer caused the launch at Cape Canaveral, Florida, to be automatically aborted. In May, a "small" helium leak led to the cancelation of the launch; the problem has not been resolved, but Boeing and NASA ultimately declared it to be benign.
The deal further compromises Boeing's future in space, crushed by its rival SpaceX. The competition between Boeing and Elon Musk's firm began in 2014 when NASA allocated $4.2 billion to Boeing and $2.6 billion to SpaceX to create vehicles to carry astronauts into space. Musk's company successfully launched its first manned flight in May 2020, applauded by President Donald Trump, and has since completed eight manned flights to the ISS for NASA, a first since the retirement of the Space Shuttle program in 2011.
Boeing, which is supposed to carry six crews, has sent none. The first unmanned test in 2019 was a disaster, and the capsule never reached the ISS. Due to a lack of progress, NASA reassigned a Boeing flight to SpaceX in 2021. In all, Boeing has spent $5 billion in NASA development funds and incurred $1.5 billion in additional costs, to no avail.
Boeing has kept doing badly, as evidenced on the civilian side by the double crash of its 737 MAX 8 in 2018 and 2019, as well as the door plug sucked out in mid-flight on an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 aircraft in January. The investigation showed that the screws of the door plug installed on a new aircraft had been removed for repair and not replaced before delivery.
Despite the turbulence, Boeing has remained relatively untouched by the authorities, in the context of the US retreat into nationalism and a desire for strategic independence. Washington cannot afford to let go of Airbus' lagging rival, the exorbitantly priced manufacturer of the US presidential jet Air Force One and the Pentagon's major supplier.
But the federal authorities are raising their voices. In April, the federal Justice Department declared that the company had violated the settlement signed on December 7, 2021, which provided for the payment of $2.5 billion in damages, including a fine of $243 million. The observation period expired on January 7, two days after the Alaska accident. On Friday, May 31, the Justice Department told the families of the victims that it was unlikely to initiate criminal proceedings against Boeing's current and former executives, due to the statute of limitations. This is generally five years, and the second 737 MAX 8 accident on Ethiopian Airlines took place on March 10, 2019.
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