SpaceX chief Elon Musk has shared his opinion on why Boeing Starliner's crewed flight test ended up being a partial success as the ship returned to Earth without its crew members earlier this month. Musk made the remarks at a podcast yesterday, where he added that SpaceX is ready to fly the Starship rocket's full stack for the fifth time in Texas as soon as it receives the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) approval.
His Boeing comments are the first time Musk, known for his unabashed takes, has shared his opinion on SpaceX's older competitor after Starliner's dramatic return to Earth.
Boeing's Operations Are Similar To The Government's Due To Long Standing Partnerships, Believes Musk
During his talk, Musk started by bemoaning the slow regulatory approval process for his Starship rocket. Starship, which is 397 feet tall when fully stacked, is the world's largest in development rocket. It is a super heavy lift launch vehicle through which SpaceX aims to conduct missions to the Moon and eventually Mars.
Musk outlined that "Starship is, the next of Starship is ready to fly. We are waiting for regulatory approval, you know." Quipping at the slow regulatory process for Starship flight five, he added, "it really should not be possible to build a giant rocket faster than paper can move from one desk to another."
With SpaceX rapidly launching rockets and others conducting sub orbital human spaceflight missions, the FAA has had to scale up its operations, too. The agency was swift in granting SpaceX permission to return to flight last month with the Falcon 9, after the rocket's first stage booster tipped over on SpaceX's drone ship. Previous Starship launch approvals have also seen SpaceX fans publicly criticize the FAA. SpaceX's plans to expand its Starship flight cadence in Texas have been put on hold as the FAA investigates claims of improper water use.
When asked about his opinion about Boeing being unable to bring astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to Earth on Starliner, Musk commented that the firm's business structure is similar to the government's bureaucratic nature since Boeing earns a lot of its revenue from the government. "Um, well, I mean I think Boeing is a company that is, they actually do so much business with the government they have sort of impedance match to the government." He added "so they're like basically one notch away form the government, maybe two, they're not far from the government from an efficiency standpoint because they derive so much of their revenue from the government."
Commenting on Boeing's recent leadership change that has seen a new CEO take charge, Musk stated that "I think, at least up until perhaps recently, cause they have a new CEO who actually shows up in the factory. And the CEO before that I think had a degree in accounting and never went to the factory. And didn't know how airplanes flew. Um, so, I think if you are in charge of a company that makes airplanes fly, and, uh spacecraft go to orbit, then it can't be a total mystery as to how they work."
Marketing knowledge for CEOs of consumer products like carbonated beverages is fine believes Musk, but a CEO of an aircraft and spacecraft company needs to understand how these vehicles work. As for Starship, Musk shared that it "is the first rocket design where success is one of the possible outcomes with full reusability. So, for any given project you have to say, this is the circle to a Venn diagram. Here's a circle and is success, the success dot, in the circle? Is, is success in the set of possible outcomes?" There are projects were success is not in the possible outcomes, but with Starship, not only is success one outcome, but it is already being proven with each launch, believes the executive.
About the author: Ramish is a seasoned technology writer and editor with more than a decade of experience. He specializes in semiconductor fabrication and market analysis. With a background in finance and supply chain management - via his bachelors in Finance and a micromasters in supply chain management from MIT - Ramish combines financial rigor with deep industry insight to deliver accurate and authoritative coverage.
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