Company Has Not Taken Action To Fix Recurring Issues

A report from NASA paints Boeing failing to take any action to remedy deficiencies the agency sees in how Boeing is handling the problems with its Starliner crew vehicle, currently docked with the International Space Station but unable to return to Earth.

The space agency’s report was issued by its internal Office of the Inspector General (OIG), which goes into detail with problems it saw with Boeing’s processes for quality control and issue resolution. The report contains statements that do not bode well for the aerospace manufacturer. Examples include, 'Boeing's process to address deficiencies to date has been ineffective.' 'The company has generally been nonresponsive in taking corrective actions when the same quality control issues reoccur.' Another example involves poor welding on a liquid oxygen fuel tank dome.

NASA brought in the Pentagon’s Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) to assist with its investigation. DCMA conducted its own inspections and came up with a total of about 71 items that it required Corrective Action Requests (CARs) that were Level I and II. DCMA says Level I are considered the least serious and Level IV the most serious. The NASA OIG report stated, “According to DCMA officials, this is a high number of CARs for a space flight system at this stage in development and reflects a recurring and degraded state of product quality control.” The OIG report recommended, among other things, that NASA “Institute financial penalties for Boeing’s noncompliance with quality control standards,” but the agency declined to follow that recommendation.

FMI: www.nasa.gov/