Former Head Mark Nappi Retiring Next Month

Boeing announced that John Mulholland, who has been the program manager for the company’s International Space Station (ISS) unit, has been tapped to be the manager for the company’s Starliner program, replacing Mark Nappi, who led the Starliner program since 2022.

Nappi has moved into a new role to “focus on identifying opportunities for streamlining improvement across the division’s space programs until he retires next month,” according to Boeing.

Mulholland led the Starliner program from 2011 to 2020 when he switched to the ISS program, which works closely with NASA under a multibillion-dollar station operations contract.

Many readers are aware that Starliner’s first test mission with astronauts was a flop as it was forced by NASA to leave its crew behind on the ISS and return empty with propulsion system problems. A panel of senior NASA officials regarded the Starliner as too risky and voted in August to have a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule bring the astronauts back.

Paul Hill, a veteran NASA flight director and member of its Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, said that NASA and Boeing are continuing to investigate the issues with Starliner’s propulsion system.

A Boeing spokesperson said the company and NASA still have not determined what the next Starliner mission will look like, saying it might need to repeat its crewed flight test before receiving certification for routine flights.

FMI:  www.boeing.com/