Doubts over manned moon missions as Boeing’s Nasa launch system runs close to US$2 billion over budget and faces years of delays
- Audit finds that first flight of rocket, scheduled for late 2017, could be delayed until 2021
Nasa’s flagship space launch system being built by Boeing is taking years longer than expected with cost overruns of nearly US$2 billion, an audit found on Wednesday, raising questions about meeting a goal of returning humans to the moon by 2024.
The General Accounting Office (GAO) identified US$1.8 billion in cost overruns, including US$800 million that Nasa obscured in previous reports on its Space Launch System (SLS), the rocket and capsule that will eventually take humans back to the moon.
The issues around the rocket’s development, led by Boeing Co, mean that the first launch of the SLS originally scheduled for late 2017 could be delayed until June 2021.
Boeing’s space division restructured the SLS leadership team in 2018 and early 2019 to adjust to the program challenges and simplified its manufacturing process, Boeing spokesman Jerry Drelling said.
“No one is building a rocket like this, and we’re creating a very in-depth database for all future rockets,” he said.
The Trump administration directed Nasa in March to land humans on the lunar surface by 2024, part of a broader program called Artemis that will use the moon as a staging ground for eventual missions to Mars.
