The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (Nasa) decision to send Boeing's Starliner capsule home without astronauts follows years of missteps by the planemaker in its space business and raises doubts over the future of the unit, analysts and industry sources said.
Taking Nasa astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the International Space Station (ISS) was to have been a turning point for Starliner after years of delays, technical glitches and supply chain mishaps.
Starliner has cost Boeing US$1.6 billion in overruns since 2016, according to a Reuters analysis of securities filings.
The astronauts were to stay at the ISS for about eight days, but problems with Starliner have extended that to eight months.
Starliner's propulsion system malfunctioned and Nasa deemed the troublesome thrusters unsafe for the return journey.
So Wilmore and Williams will be brought home in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule next year, the latest humiliation for Boeing at the hands of Elon Musk's dominant space company.
The mission was meant to be a final test before Nasa could certify Starliner for routine flights.
Boeing's new chief executive officer (CEO) Kelly Ortberg now must decide whether to keep pouring money into Starliner, which analysts doubt will ever be profitable, or to unravel the capsule business and focus on rebuilding the tarnished reputation of its core planemaking division.
Elsewhere in its space business, United States government watchdogs have repeatedly reported Boeing is years behind schedule and several billions of dollars over budget as main contractor on Nasa's giant Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, a centrepiece vehicle of America's moon programme.
And the aerospace giant is already trying to sell a separate rocket launching firm it jointly owns with Lockheed Martin, Reuters reported last month.
Nasa administrator Bill Nelson said he spoke to Ortberg on Saturday and left that conversation 100 per cent sure Starliner would fly astronauts again. But that is no guarantee of a long-term commitment if Starliner's troubles persist.
Ortberg, who started as CEO this month, is busy trying to convince Boeing workers, investors, airline customers and the flying public that safety issues are under control after a panel dramatically flew off a 737 MAX jet in mid-air in January.
Boeing may have to redo the astronaut mission to the ISS in order to get the space capsule certified by Nasa. The company already had to repeat an uncrewed 2022 mission at a cost of nearly US$500 million.
It has been five years since the Starliner's first uncrewed test failed because of several critical software glitches. Since then, SpaceX has outpaced Boeing in rocket launches, crewed space flight and satellite manufacturing.
For years, Boeing's space unit has suffered an exodus of skilled staff; many have joined SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.
Boeing's clunky supply chain makes designing spacecraft more complicated than for Musk's more nimble, largely vertically integrated operation, according to 10 people who have worked with Boeing's space unit.
Throughout Starliner's development, the hardware and sometimes the software of the propulsion system have been persistent issues.
New problems were found just hours before the spacecraft made an initial attempt to launch this summer. Helium, used to pressurise the propellant, was leaking through a small seal in a flange.
Nasa saw the leak as low-risk and allowed Starliner to launch. Yet officials said the propulsion system had a "design vulnerability" Boeing must address before its next mission.
The SLS rocket is another problem for Boeing's space unit. An August report by Nasa's inspector-general cited deep issues with quality control, while saying Boeing's SLS workforce in Michoud, Louisiana "lacks sufficient aerospace production experience, training, and instruction".
A Boeing spokesman said the company disagrees with many of the report's "assertions, including any suggestion that our Michoud workforce is unqualified".
The writer is from Reuters