NASA's Mars Medal Doubles to $ 8.9 Billion

Boeing is currently building the biggest rocket in NASA's history, but the "bad performance" of the aerospace giant has cost $ 8.9 billion, double the original budget and could delay the launch , announced Wednesday the office of the US space agency.

The first launch test of the Space Launch System rocket, which is supposed to send humans to the moon and ultimately allow deep space exploration, was planned for mid-2020; a crew launch will follow in 2022.

The launches have already been delayed at least three times.

According to the report, Boeing will use up the entire $ 6.2 billion contract budget three years ahead of schedule and will end up spending $ 8.9 billion until 2021 without delivering the main stadium. the rocket or its upper tier, the report said.

The highest figure is double the original budget of the contract.

The audit attributed delays to insufficient staff and incorrect assembly of the factory tools.

The NASA Inspector General said in an audit that "the management, technical and infrastructure problems caused by Boeing's poor performance" had led to delays and cost overruns, raising questions about the future timetable for launch.

Achieving the first milestone of the program has already taken two and a half years to December 2019, says the report.

NASA spokeswoman Kathryn Hambleton said the agency is restructuring its contract with Boeing, while providing the same timetable.

"The agency continues to plan the launch of Mission-1 Exploration in 2020, but there are still technical and timing-related risks," she said in an email.

Boeing spokeswoman Patricia Soloveichik said in an e-mail that the audit did not accurately describe the current state of the program and that the company had already implemented some of the recommendations of the body. monitoring.

She also accused "the internal problems at NASA".

Boeing, which was selected as the lead contractor for the NASA program in 2012, has been delayed by other federal contracts.

The company missed several deadlines for the delivery of its KC-46 air tanker to the US Air Force.

The program generated costs of about $ 3 billion, a derivative of its 767 commercial aircraft, and is over two years behind schedule.