Boeing receives overpayments from NASA for new space capsule
More than 8,000 million dollars were destined to guarantee six trips of four astronauts, each one until 2024
The American aerospace giant Boeing has received overpayments made by NASA for the construction of a new space capsule ready to transport astronauts, as revealed by a public audit this week.
The intention of creating an upcoming space vehicle had already been planned since 2014, when NASA signed contracts with Boeing and SpaceX for up to 8,000 million dollars to build ships ready to take their crews to the International Space Station (ISS): Starliner for Boeing, and Dragon for SpaceX, to guarantee six trips of four astronauts each one until 2024.
According to a report published last Thursday by NASA’s inspector general, Boeing was paid more than SpaceX. The price for the round trip will end up being 90 million per astronaut aboard the Starliner, a figure that exceeds 60% more than SpaceX had been canceled, in addition to the 80 million NASA currently pays to Russia for seats in its Soyuz rockets, the only means of transportation to the ISS in the world since the end of the US ferry program in 2011.
The inspector also revealed that NASA had also paid Boeing an additional $ 287 million to compensate for a delay in construction. “In our opinion, this additional payment was unnecessary.”
However, Boeing questioned this calculation and noted that SpaceX had previously benefited from large NASA contracts to develop the cargo version of its Dragon rocket.
K.Villarroel
Source: digitaldigital
