Boeing “incredibly excited” to serve as nation’s only astronaut transportation

波音公司对成为美国唯一的宇航员运输供应商感到“无比兴奋”

NASA announced on Monday that it will exercise options to purchase two additional flights on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, as well as financially support the company in its efforts to return the crewed vehicle to flight and find a new rocket after the Atlas V vehicle retires. The space agency’s announcement confirms reporting by Ars Technica earlier this month on NASA’s plans to maintain access to low-Earth orbit after the impending retirement of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon vehicle. 美国国家航空航天局（NASA）周一宣布，将行使选择权，额外购买两次波音“星际客机”（Starliner）的飞行任务，并将在资金上支持该公司，以帮助其实现载人飞船的复飞，并在“宇宙神5号”（Atlas V）火箭退役后寻找新的运载火箭。NASA的这一声明证实了Ars Technica本月初的报道，即NASA计划在SpaceX的“载人龙飞船”（Crew Dragon）即将退役后，继续保持进入近地轨道的能力。

“I do not think it’s a secret that SpaceX intends to sunset older platforms like Falcon and Dragon as they concentrate on their next-generation capability, Starship,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said during a news conference on Monday afternoon. “SpaceX打算淘汰‘猎鹰’（Falcon）和‘龙’（Dragon）等旧平台，转而专注于其下一代运载能力‘星舰’（Starship），这已经不是什么秘密了，”NASA局长贾里德·艾萨克曼（Jared Isaacman）在周一下午的新闻发布会上表示。

Starliner struggles to get going

“星际客机”起步维艰

Dragon has successfully been flying NASA astronauts into orbit for more than six years. Boeing, by contrast, has struggled mightily to bring the Starliner vehicle into service for NASA. Starliner experienced numerous issues on uncrewed test flights in 2019 and 2022; most seriously, thruster issues nearly led to the catastrophic loss of two astronauts during the spacecraft’s first crew test flight in June 2024. “龙飞船”已成功将NASA宇航员送入轨道超过六年。相比之下，波音公司在将“星际客机”投入NASA服役的过程中却步履维艰。“星际客机”在2019年和2022年的无人测试飞行中遇到了诸多问题；最严重的是，在2024年6月的首次载人测试飞行中，推进器故障几乎导致两名宇航员遭遇灾难性事故。

There had been some discussion that Boeing would walk away from the Starliner program, which has incurred more than $2 billion in losses for the company. The fact that NASA—which has already provided $5.1 billion as part of the “fixed price” Commercial Crew program to Boeing—felt obliged to spend additional funding underscores that this was a possibility. 此前曾有讨论称波音可能会放弃“星际客机”项目，该项目已为公司带来了超过20亿美元的亏损。NASA作为“固定价格”商业载人航天计划的一部分，已经向波音提供了51亿美元的资金，而此次NASA感到有必要投入额外资金，这凸显了波音放弃该项目的可能性确实存在。

During the news conference, Dana Weigel, manager of NASA’s Low Earth Orbit Program, said the space agency would pay $359 million to Boeing to help the company complete a rebuild of the reaction control system thrusters that have overheated in flight, as well as certify United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket for human missions. NASA also said it would exercise options to order two additional crewed missions on Starliner, bringing its total spaceflights on the vehicle to six. 在新闻发布会上，NASA近地轨道项目经理达娜·韦格尔（Dana Weigel）表示，NASA将向波音支付3.59亿美元，以帮助该公司完成对飞行中出现过热问题的姿态控制系统推进器的重建，并为联合发射联盟（ULA）的“火神”（Vulcan）火箭进行载人任务认证。NASA还表示，将行使选择权，额外订购两次“星际客机”载人任务，使其在该飞船上的总飞行次数达到六次。

Presently, NASA has manifested an uncrewed demonstration flight on the spacecraft, Starliner-1, which could launch in December 2026 or January 2027. It also has three crewed missions already on contract, the first of which, Starliner-2, could fly in mid-2028. NASA said Monday that veteran astronaut Woody Hoburg would command that mission. 目前，NASA已安排了一次该飞船的无人演示飞行任务“Starliner-1”，预计将于2026年12月或2027年1月发射。此外，NASA已签约了三次载人任务，其中首次任务“Starliner-2”可能在2028年中期飞行。NASA周一表示，资深宇航员伍迪·霍伯格（Woody Hoburg）将担任该任务的指令长。

Facing a difficult decision

面临艰难抉择

With the retirement of Dragon likely by or before 2030, NASA faced a difficult decision. As it contemplates a future in low-Earth orbit, the space agency is considering extending the International Space Station’s lifetime to 2032. It is also supporting the development of private space stations, known as CLDs (commercial LEO destinations). The space agency needed some way to get its astronauts there. Starliner, for all of its flaws to date, was evidently the best option. 随着“龙飞船”可能在2030年或之前退役，NASA面临着一个艰难的抉择。在规划近地轨道的未来时，NASA正在考虑将国际空间站的寿命延长至2032年。同时，它也在支持私人空间站（即商业近地轨道目的地，简称CLD）的开发。NASA需要一种方式将宇航员送往这些目的地。“星际客机”尽管迄今为止存在种种缺陷，但显然是目前最好的选择。

Some critics have suggested that NASA should fund a second crew competition that would include Boeing, Blue Origin with its under-development “space vehicle” and potentially others such as The Exploration Company. But Isaacman seemed reluctant to make such an investment, which likely would cost billions. During the news conference, he noted that NASA’s future demand for astronaut flights to low-Earth orbit will be two seats every six to nine months. The nation has already invested heavily in Boeing’s effort, and with Starliner close to being ready, it would be foolish to throw the nation’s considerable investment away, NASA officials said. 一些批评人士建议，NASA应该资助第二次载人航天竞争，参与者应包括波音、正在开发“太空飞行器”的蓝色起源（Blue Origin），以及可能包括“探索公司”（The Exploration Company）等其他企业。但艾萨克曼似乎不愿进行这种可能耗资数十亿美元的投资。在新闻发布会上，他指出，NASA未来对近地轨道宇航员飞行任务的需求将是每六到九个月两个座位。NASA官员表示，国家已经在波音的项目上投入了巨资，而且“星际客机”已接近就绪，如果现在放弃国家已经投入的巨大资金，那将是愚蠢的。

Boeing, for its part, appears to be energized by the opportunity to claim the mantle of the nation’s provider of access to low-Earth orbit for US astronauts. “We’re incredibly excited about the partnership with NASA,” said John Mulholland, vice president and program manager of Commercial Crew at Boeing. “To continue to fly to the International Space Station, and then obviously, with the Vulcan certification, missions beyond the current six that we have. Certainly, we have talked to all of the CLD providers about becoming their preferred transportation supplier in the future.” 波音方面似乎对能够承担起为美国宇航员提供近地轨道运输服务的重任感到振奋。“我们对与NASA的合作感到无比兴奋，”波音公司商业载人航天项目副总裁兼项目经理约翰·穆尔霍兰（John Mulholland）表示，“我们将继续飞往国际空间站，显然，随着‘火神’火箭的认证，我们还将执行目前六次任务之外的更多任务。当然，我们已经与所有CLD供应商进行了沟通，希望在未来成为他们首选的运输供应商。”

Boeing will compete against … Boeing?

波音将与……波音竞争？

All of this requires Boeing to execute, of course, which it has yet to do. Another major concern for NASA and the private space station operators is the cost. Boeing, for a time at least, is likely to have a monopoly on crew transportation after Dragon exits the market. For the Starliner-2 through Starliner-6 missions, NASA and Boeing have agreed to a price point of approximately $9000万美元 per seat. However, this summer, as Boeing was negotiating with CLD providers, the company would not commit to seat prices in the 2030s. 当然，这一切都需要波音能够顺利执行，而它目前尚未做到这一点。NASA和私人空间站运营商的另一个主要担忧是成本。在“龙飞船”退出市场后，波音至少在一段时间内可能会垄断载人运输服务。对于“Starliner-2”到“Starliner-6”任务，NASA和波音已商定每个座位的价格约为9000万美元。然而，今年夏天当波音与CLD供应商谈判时，该公司并未承诺2030年代的座位价格。

“We couldn’t provide detailed pricing to the CLD suppliers as the Vulcan rocket has not been certified, and the spacecraft has not been certified, and we don’t have detailed pricing on the Vulcan,” Mulholland said. “That will come in the future, and obviously we want to be as competitive as possible.” “我们无法向CLD供应商提供详细的定价，因为‘火神’火箭尚未获得认证，飞船也尚未获得认证，而且我们也没有‘火神’火箭的详细定价，”穆尔霍兰说，“这些将在未来确定，显然我们希望尽可能保持竞争力。”