Perhaps it’s time for Boeing to abandon its space plans. The Starliner spacecraft’s first crewed test flight to the International Space Station (ISS) was marred by delays and technical problems, prompting Boeing to consider selling its troubled program altogether.

Boeing would study the possibility of selling its NASA-related activities, according to the Wall Street Journal. The publication cites sources familiar with the matter who said the company wants to sell parts of its space business, including the Starliner spacecraft, while retaining components being built for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket.

New Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg hinted at possibility for Boeing to separate from its space-related activities during a recent earnings conference call, during which the company revealed an additional $250 million charge to cover Starliner’s cost overruns. “We’re better off doing less and doing it better than doing more and not doing it well,” Ortberg was quoted as saying during the earnings conference call. “Obviously our core commercial aircraft and defense systems are going to stay with Boeing for the long term, but there are probably things on the fringes that we can be more efficient with, or that just distract us from our core focus . here.”

So far, Starliner has cost Boeing total losses of $1.85 billion. As part of its $4.2 billion contract with NASA, Boeing retains full ownership of the Starliner spacecraft. NASA acts as a customer and purchases round-trip missions to transport crew and cargo to the ISS. Over the past decade, since Boeing was hired by NASA, the company has failed to complete a single operational mission to the space station while its counterpart, SpaceX, has flown nine crews of astronauts to the ‘ISS.

After years of delays, Boeing finally launched a crewed test flight to the ISS, but it was a complete fiasco. THE CST-100 Starliner launched to the ISS on June 5carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunni Williams. During its journey to the ISS, five of the spacecraft’s thrusters failed and the spaceship developed five helium leaksone of which was identified before takeoff. The spacecraft remained docked with the space station for three months as ground teams debated whether to return the crew aboard the Starliner.

Mission teams conducted ground tests to try to identify the main problem causing the thruster problem before ultimately deciding to make a Starliner unmanned and bring the two astronauts back aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft. THE a spacecraft detached from the ISS on September 6leaving his crew behind. Wilmore and Williams, along with SpaceX’s Crew-9, will return to Earth in February 2025, after spending eight months aboard the ISS, contrary to the original plan for an eight-day mission.

The failure of the test flight demanded NASA to delay next chance to launch Starliner to ISS. The space agency had hoped that Starliner would launch its first operational mission early next year, but instead reserved SpaceX’s crew capsule for two missions in 2025. Once again, NASA was forced to rely on its more reliable commercial partner, SpaceX, leaving Boeing in limbo. about the fate of his rickety spaceship.

So it would make sense for the company to consider walking away from this painstaking effort that has cost it millions so far and tarnished its long-standing reputation in the space industry. When NASA first awarded its contracts for the Commercial Crew Program in 2014, Boeing was a well-known force in the industry, while SpaceX was a newcomer. In 1969, three astronauts launched to the Moon on the Apollo 11 mission, powered by a first-stage booster built by Boeing for the Saturn V rocket. When first envisioned in 2010, Starliner drew on the company’s history with the Apollo mission, but the spacecraft failed to live up to its legacy and could spell the end of Boeing’s space dreams.