SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday called the need for fully reusable rockets & spacecraft, and not another capsule, even as rival Boeing's much-awaited Starliner yet again scrubbed its crewed mission. "The world doesn't need another capsule," the tech billionaire said in a post on X.com. "What matters is fully reusable rockets and spacecraft," he added.
His comments come as Boeing on Friday scrubbed the Starliner manned mission, which was expected to launch NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Indian-Origin Sunita Williams to the space station. But it was stalled just two hours before the launch after facing an issue with a valve in the rocket's upper stage.
Both Boeing and SpaceX signed a contract with NASA's Commercial Crew Programme to fly operational missions to and from the space station with Starliner in 2014.
While SpaceX's Dragon capsules have been launching astronauts to space on its Falcon 9 rockets since 2020, Boeing is yet to make a mark. "Although Boeing got $4.2 billion to develop an astronaut capsule and SpaceX only got $2.6 billion, SpaceX finished 4 years sooner.
Also, read: Indian-origin Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore to fly to space on Boeing's Starliner on Tuesday
Musk also noted the difference between the designs of crew capsule Dragon 1 and 2. "Too many non-technical managers at Boeing," he said.
Meanwhile, Boeing, the world's largest aerospace company is facing a controversy over the mysterious deaths of whistleblowers. "How do they even get any work done with so many whistles being blown!?" said Musk in reply to a user who cited that the company has "too many whistleblowers." "Boeing should rebrand to a whistle manufacturer," Musk said.
Both Boeing’s Starliner and SpaceX’s Dragon are aimed at carrying astronauts and cargo for NASA missions to low Earth orbit, and beyond.