NASA inspector general gives damning assessment of Boeing's quality control
NASA inspector general gives damning assessment of Boeing's quality control
Boeing is helping develop NASA's next-generation megarocket, but inspectors have found shortcomings in that work. Meanwhile, the company's Starliner spaceship waits in space.
The report included several recommendations, including levying “financial penalties for Boeing’s noncompliance with quality control standards.” The inspector general said, however, that NASA decided not to introduce any kind of financial discipline.
Goddamnit.
The new report said the SLS Block 1B version is likely to cost $5.7 billion by the time it launches.
The assessment is the latest setback for NASA's return-to-the-moon program, which has been beset by holdups and budget overruns. NASA has spent more than $42 billion over more than a decade on its Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft.
Last year, NASA’s inspector general estimated that each Artemis launch would cost $4.2 billion.
Hot take: The government should not give Boeing any more money with which to do stock buybacks, instead of hiring qualified people, and performing the best QA possible.
NASA should start manufacturing things themselves.
In the entire history of NASA, they’ve never manufactured any boosters for themselves. Redstone was from the army. Titan, also military. Saturn I and V were designed by NASA but contracted to big aircraft manufacturers as contractors. Shuttle was Boeing / Rockwell for the orbiter, ATK for the boosters. SLS is basically all the Shuttle contractors, again. (That was the point.)
I hear what you’re saying. But NASA would need to spin up an entire company from scratch to build their own rockets. That’s not what their mandate is, and it’s not what they’re good at.
Don't give them any money at all. Private businesses literally should not exist.
Private businesses are not the problem, corporations are.
Venture Capitalism is the problem. When a private business beholdens itself to a stock-price, that stock price becomes the ONLY thing that matters. You keep that stock rising no...matter...what.
Have to use cheap labour? Fuck you...stock price.
Quality Control cuts corners? Fuck you...stock price.
Employees can't afford groceries? Fuck you...stock price.
Imagine the good that could be done on Earth with that money. Why build a base on the moon? There must be someone, somewhere, with qualifications saying it’s a good idea. But I can’t imagine why this spend is justified.
Exploration and pushing our limits as a species are very good for our growth as humans and as a society.
NASA budget isn't really the first thing we should be putting on the chopping block if your argument is "better things could be done with that money."
There's a whole bunch of other shit ahead of science and space exploration that you should be worrying about.
That good is mostly being done on earth. We aren't shipping money to space, we are investing in research, manufacturing, and businesses that can exist because we are pushing the bounds forward of what is possible. You can thank NASA for a lot of the technology that you use today.
Nah
All that money is still on earth providing jobs for thousands of people.
The Boeing and McDonnell Douglas Merger was a mistake.
100% correct, joining a purposeful, safety-driven company from the pnw with a yeehaw govt-profits military contractor whose products were subpar was always going to be a harmful merger.
So many people in long beach CA lost their jobs due to managerial idiots who decided a headquarters in Chicago would be appropriate for a company whose production base was mainly in the Seattle area.
The resultant quality speaks for itself.
But, money. :mr-krabs:
Every large merger is a huge mistake in the long run. Every company should be locally owned and locally managed, ideally as some type of worker's co-op.
Peak executive leadership!
Corpo clowns might be finally hitting limit on their grift. Looting companies has consequences sucks people have to die for society to take notice.
Maybe do these assessments prior to awarding multi-billion dollar contracts.
Boeing will be a memory fairly soon.
Too big to fail, only so many aerospace companies and a LOT of US jobs riding on them.
Bloeing
Boeing is the sound they made when they got bailed out from sticky situation by the government.