spacetoday.net: NASA inspector general report criticizes additional Boeing commercial crew payments

NASA inspector general report criticizes additional Boeing commercial crew payments

Posted: Sun, Nov 17, 2019, 9:40 AM ET (1440 GMT)
Boeing CST-100 illustration

A report Thursday by NASA's Office of Inspector General (OIG) criticized additional payments made to Boeing for commercial crew work. The report said that NASA paid Boeing $287.2 million for "additional flexibilities" in scheduling future CST-100 Starliner missions, in part because of concerns of a gap in crew access. The report concluded that the majority of that additional payment was unnecessary, since NASA could take other steps to mitigate any gap in ISS access. The report also argued that NASA officials felt the additional payments were necessary to keep Boeing in the commercial crew program. Both NASA and Boeing defended the payments, and Boeing said it never considered withdrawing from the program.