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Boeing is getting a new space chief.
Ted Colbert will no longer be CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, one of the aerospace giant’s subdivisions, according to media reports. Those reports cite a staff memo circulated today (Sept. 20) by Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, who took the top job in August.
“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,” Ortberg said in the memo, according to CNBC. “Working together we can and will improve our performance and ensure we deliver on our commitments.”
The change is effective immediately. Steve Parker, the chief operating officer of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, will take over as the unit’s acting CEO until a long-term replacement is named, CNBC reported.
The news comes less than two weeks after Boeing’s Starliner capsule returned to Earth uncrewed, wrapping up a troubled test flight to the International Space Station (ISS).
Starliner launched June 5 on its first-ever crewed mission, a test flight that carried NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the ISS. That mission, known as Crew Flight Test (CFT), was supposed to last just 10 days or so. But Starliner suffered thruster issues shortly after reaching space, and, after more than two months of study and debate, NASA decided to bring the capsule back to Earth uncrewed.
Related: Astronauts would have been fine on Boeing’s Starliner during landing, NASA says
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That landing, which occurred on Sept. 7, was successful, and NASA officials said that Wilmore and Williams would have been fine had they been aboard the capsule. The duo remain aboard the ISS, however, and they won’t come down until February 2025 — aboard a Crew Dragon capsule, built by Boeing rival SpaceX.
Both Boeing and SpaceX received multibillion-dollar NASA contracts in 2014 to carry astronauts to and from the ISS. SpaceX is getting ready to launch its ninth operational crewed mission for the agency, whereas Starliner has yet to be certified for such flights.
