Boeing’s new CEO must now weigh its duty to NASA vs. strained cash reserves
NASA Space Technology After a humiliating setback to its space ambitions, Boeing Co. faces a dilemma that pits its national duty against strained cash reserves.The decision about the future of the struggling Starliner program now rests with Boeing’s newly installed chief executive officer, Kelly Ortberg, after NASA announced Saturday that it wouldn’t send astronauts home from the space station on the faulty spacecraft. Following weeks of testing and heated debate, the space agency decided it was safer to use Elon Musk’s SpaceX.The specter of NASA astronauts being stuck in space is just one embarrassing moment of many for Boeing during an epically bad year that’s included a near-catastrophic blowout of an airborne 737 Max jetliner, federal investigations and an executive suite shake-up.That leaves Ortberg, who took over the top job earlier this month, and the senior leadership council known internally as “exco,”...
