Boeing has a new space chief.
Ted Colbert will step down as CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, a division of the aerospace giant, according to media reports. The reports cite a staff memo distributed today (September 20) by Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, who took over as CEO in August.
“At this critical juncture, our priority is to restore our customers’ trust and meet the high standards they expect from us to carry out their critical missions around the world,” Ortberg said in the memo. According to CNBC:“By working together, we can improve our performance and ensure we deliver on our promises.”
The changes are effective immediately, and Steve Parker, chief operating officer of Boeing Defense, Space and Security, will serve as acting CEO of the division until a long-term successor is named, CNBC reported.
The news comes less than two weeks after Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft returned empty to Earth after a troubled test flight to the International Space Station (ISS).
Starliner launched on June 5th for the first crewed test mission to carry NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the ISS. The mission, known as the Crew Flight Test (CFT), was scheduled to last just 10 days. However, Starliner experienced thruster problems shortly after reaching space, and after more than two months of study and discussion, NASA decided to return the capsule to Earth unmanned.
Related: Astronauts aboard the Boeing Starliner aircraft were fine upon landing, NASA said.
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The landing on September 7 was successful, and NASA officials said Wilmore and Williams would have survived had they remained on board the capsule, but they will remain on the ISS and will not return until February 2025 aboard a Crew Dragon capsule built by Boeing’s rival SpaceX.
Boeing and SpaceX both won multibillion-dollar NASA contracts to transport astronauts to the International Space Station in 2014. SpaceX is preparing to launch its ninth crewed mission for NASA, but Starliner has not yet been certified for such flights.
