This article is published in Aerospace Daily & Defense Report part of Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN), and is complimentary through Aug 24, 2026. For information on becoming an AWIN Member to access more content like this, click here.
Credit: NASA
LONDON—Boeing’s future in space is in national security and defense, with the company focusing all of its investment in this area where it says it is already a leader as it works to get Starliner on track.
Boeing Defense, Space and Security CEO Steve Parker, speaking to reporters ahead of the Farnborough Air Show here, said the company’s focus needs to be on work with the military.
“That’s where I’m putting all of my investment,” he says, pointing to the Space Force’s X-37B, which is in orbit now, and satellite activities.
Boeing’s Starliner crewed vehicle has gotten almost all the public attention within the company’s space portfolio with NASA, following a troubled crew flight test that left two astronauts on the International Space Station far longer than originally expected due to thruster failures before the capsule returned to Earth uncrewed.
Parker says the company is working with NASA to answer all its questions to determine the next launch. “I believe we’re ready,” he says. NASA has said the next—uncrewed—launch will be in the next year or more.
There is a significant focus on doing a root cause analysis and corrective action following the first launch, he says.
“We’ve tested out a number of improvements at White Sands [Missile Range] and so forth, and again we share all that data with NASA,” he said. “Up to them to make the call, but we’re going to be ready to go, and we’ll be ready to go next year.”
Boeing is the prime contractor on the International Space Station, and Parker says the station will go until 2032, adding: “I think it may go longer. We’re certainly supportive.”
Earlier this month, NASA released a draft request for proposals for the International Space Station replacement, called the Commercial Low-Earth Orbit Destination. The agency is looking to carry two or more contractors through early development followed by a competitive order for final design of the station from one or more companies.
“NASA is also looking at commercial in the future,” Parker says. “This is very hard to do—to take people up into space. But I think there’s a bright future ahead here.”
For space launch systems, Parker also points to the Artemis II launch as a “flawless launch.” Boeing provided the core stage.
“It was just magnificent,” he says of Artemis II. “And we took people, NASA took people, astronauts, the furthest away from Earth. So it’s really easy to get excited about that.”
Related Content
