Just weeks after Boeing's troubled space capsule Starliner landed on Earth without astronauts, stranded aboard International Space Station (ISS), the aerospace major has announced that head of its space division will be leaving the company. Ted Colbert, the president and CEO of Boeing's defense, space and security unit, will be leaving immediately. Till the time a new ceo is named, the unit's chief operating officer Steve Parker will take over Colbert's work.
“I’d like to share that Ted Colbert, president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS), will be leaving Boeing, and that l’ve asked Steve Parker to temporarily oversee BDS, effective immediately, until a replacement for Ted is named at a later date,” said Kelly Ortberg, Boeing’s president and CEO. Ortberg issued a statement on Friday (September 20).
“I want to thank Ted for his 15 years of service at The Boeing Company, supporting our customers, our people and our communities. At this critical juncture, our priority is to restore the trust of our customers and meet the high standards they expect of us to enable their critical missions around the world. Working together we can and will improve our performance and ensure we deliver on our commitments.” said the statement.
The Starliner fiasco
Boeing's Starliner, which took NASA Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore to the ISS in the month of June, was supposed to bring them back in eight days. But the space capsule developed helium leaks and problems with its thrusters following which the Astronauts' stay got extended by several months. In spite of attempts from Boeing to remotely repair the space capsule, NASA eventually decided not to risk the lives of the astronauts by making them return on a faulty space capsule.
Boeing, which once enjoyed stellar reputation and was a gold standard in making aircrafts, has taken a hit following the Starliner fiasco. The company was already receiving major flak for issues with its 737 planes, several of which have crashed killing hundreds onboard.
Boeing is now being blamed for situation with NASA astronauts who are clearly stranded in space and will only return next year after SpaceX gets ready to fly its own space capsule to bring the astronauts back.
