Boeing employee feels ‘embarrassed’ & ‘humiliated’ over Musk bailing them out, ‘we talk trash about them’

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune - www.newsofbahrain.com

Boeing’s failure to safely return Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams and fellow astronaut Butch Wilmore to Earth due to issues with its Starliner space capsule has left employees feeling “humiliated,” according to a report by The Post. NASA has announced that it will now rely on Boeing competitorElon Musk’sSpaceXto bring back the two astronauts, who have been stranded in space for over two months.

The astronauts had originally embarked on an eight-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in June, but their return is now expected in February next year.

Shortly af ter Starline  r reached the ISS, a helium leak and thruster malfunctions were detected, making the capsule unsafe for the journey back to Earth. SpaceX is expected to launch its ninth regular mission to the ISS on September 24. An unnamed Boeing employee, based in Florida, told The Post that this development is yet another blow to the aerospace giant’s credibility, which is already under scrutiny due to a series of accidents involving its commercial flights.

“We’ve had so many embarrassments lately; we’re under a microscope. This just made it, like, 100 times worse,” the employee told the publication.

“We hate SpaceX,” the employee added. “We talk trash about them all the time, and now they’re bailing us out. It’s shameful. I’m embarrassed; I’m horrified.” The employee also claimed that morale at Boeing is “in the toilet,” with the company shifting the blame onto NASA. Boeing maintains that Starliner is capable of safely returning the astronauts to Earth, but NASA disagrees and has chosen Space X to handle their return.

“They have their own PR issues and don’t want two dead astronauts,” the employee added. “But we never thought there would be dead astronauts. We would never have recommended using Starliner if we believed it was unsafe.”