Boeing, NASA execs had heated arguments about bringing stranded astronauts home on Starliner: report

Boeing and NASA executives fought in tense meetings over how to bring home the two astronauts stranded at the International Space Station in the days after announcing the pair was stuck in space, according to The New York Post.

The outlet reported Friday that sources at both Boeing and NASA confirmed the high-level meetings between the two organizations descended into arguments and yelling over whether to bring the astronauts home on the troubled Boeing Starliner that brought them to the ISS on its first crewed mission.

"It was heated," a NASA executive familiar with the talks told the Post. "Boeing was convinced that the Starliner was in good enough condition to bring the astronauts home, and NASA disagreed. Strongly disagreed. The thinking around here was that Boeing was being wildly irresponsible."

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NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were flown to space on Boeing's Starliner on June 5 for a mission that was initially supposed to last about eight days, but Starliner experienced helium leaks and thruster issues that prompted NASA and Boeing to investigate the issues for weeks.

Ultimately, NASA decided Saturday to tap Elon Musk's SpaceX — Boeing's main space rival — to shuttle the astronauts home early next year on a SpaceX Crew-9 Dragon mission. Starliner will make an uncrewed return. 

"Boeing wasn’t happy" with that decision, the NASA executive told the Post. "And they made that perfectly clear to us. But what’s the headline if there’s a catastrophic failure? It’s not ‘Boeing killed two astronauts,’ it’s ‘NASA killed two astronauts.’ So no, it’s better safe than sorry."

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Meanwhile, the feeling at Boeing is that the successful return of Starliner will show that NASA was being overly cautious, but the commercial space team at the aerospace giant is demoralized, Boeing employees told the Post.

Boeing did not respond to multiple requests from FOX Business for comment on the report. 

NASA said in a statement to FOX Business that it "is focused on the safe return of the uncrewed Boeing Starliner spacecraft from the International Space Station. The agency previously discussed the need for the open exchange of viewpoints as a necessary aspect of a healthy safety culture."

NASA's decision not to bring the astronauts home on Starliner represents the latest in a string of embarrassing incidents involving Boeing, which has fallen under increased scrutiny since a door plug flew off one of its aircraft midair during an Alaska Airlines flight in January.

At least a dozen Boeing whistleblowers have come forward citing concerns over the company's quality assurance and culture since the Alaska Airlines incident, and the aerospace giant is currently under investigation by multiple federal agencies.

Last month, Boeing pleaded guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge to avoid a criminal trial in connection with a Justice Department investigation into two deadly crashes involving the company's 737 Max jetliners.

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The criminal case relates to two 737 Max crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia in 2018 and 2019 in which 346 people were killed, leading to demands from the victims' families for Boeing to face prosecution.

Boeing has brought in a new CEO, Kelly Ortberg, to right the ship at the company. In a letter to employees on his first day on the job earlier this month, Ortberg acknowledged that "we clearly have a lot of work to do in restoring trust."

FOX Business' Eric Revell contributed to this report.