Boeing May Take a Hit to its Stock Prices As Space Travel Gets Delayed

As per the latest reports, Boeing has announced that the Starliner spacecraft may just be a bit delayed in terms of its completion. The announcement in regards to the delayed completion of the spacecraft was made by Boeing on Friday, August 13, 2021.

In the announcement, Boeing revealed that the propulsion system of the Starliner spacecraft was having some issues. This is the reason why the company had to delay the completion of the spacecraft and it had to go back to the factory for further checks and fixes.

The Starliner spacecraft that Boeing has been building for a while now is a step taken by Boeing to promote space travel and tourism. Initially, the Starliner spacecraft is expected to take astronauts to space so the proper testing for the Starliner can be conducted.

Following the successful runs and go from the astronauts plus the data collected, Boeing would have launched the space tourism program. Although the tourism program is still in place, yet it has been moved to a later start.

Boeing had announced that through the Starliner spacecraft, the passengers would be able to take a tour of the International Space Station. Boeing has announced that initially, they were under the impression that the problems would be minor. However, upon thorough and detailed inspection of the problem, it was expected that the issues were worse than expected.

This means that people’s dream of traveling to space and taking a tour of the International Space Station has to wait for another long time.

The Starliner that Boeing has been working on is a capsule-like craft that resembles the shape of a gumdrop. The spacecraft would have enough capacity of letting the astronauts, as well as the tourists, board it in a single go. The spacecraft would be placed on top of the rocket and would house several passengers once it is ready to go operational.

This is not the first time the Starliner has faced a problem, which has delayed its completion and official launch. Ever since the beginning of the project, several delays have been caused and problems have been found by the scientists and teams working on the spacecraft.

The entire project has been plagued by one problem after another and Boeing is constantly trying to fix it and bring the spacecraft closer to its commercial launch.

Another major problem for Boeing is that other companies such as SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, and Blue Origin among others have already made it through the first phase. These companies are run by billionaires such as Elon Musk, Richard Branson, and Jeff Bezos, who have already conducted successful spaceflights.

This has put Boeing in a rather unfavorable position both in terms of its stakeholders and potential customers. Since the announcement of the delay, share prices for Boeing have experienced a 1.52% drop bringing its share price down to $234.46 from $238.09 within 24-hours.