Boeing Wants Out: Troubled Company Looks to Sell Rocket Venture

Boeing is reportedly exploring a sale of United Launch Alliance (ULA), its joint venture rocket launch business that it runs with Lockheed Martin....
Boeing Wants Out: Troubled Company Looks to Sell Rocket Venture
Written by Matt Milano

Boeing is reportedly exploring a sale of United Launch Alliance (ULA), its joint venture rocket launch business that it runs with Lockheed Martin.

Boeing has had a difficult couple of years, with multiple high-profile plane failures, as well as setbacks with its Starliner spacecraft. Most recently, two astronauts scheduled to spend eight days at the International Space Station have been stranded for months due to issues with Starliner. In what is the ultimate insult for Boeing, the astronauts will be retrieved via a rocket from rival SpaceX.

According to Reuters, Boeing and Lockheed are looking to sell ULA, with a deal possibly fetching as much as $2 or $3 billion. The outlet says the sale would enable Boeing to focus on its core business—aerospace and defense—while using the proceeds from the sale to help fund its endeavors.

Sierra Space has emerged as the likely buyer, with negotiations reportedly already underway. The deal would be a big win for Sierra, giving the company control of its own launches, rather than it paying another company to ferry its craft and equipment into space.

Only time will tell what the future is for Boeing’s other spaceflight ambitions. Morale among the company’s space division appears to be at an all-time low, with employees reportedly humiliated that SpaceX has to bail them out.

“We have had so many embarrassments lately, we’re under a microscope. This just made it, like, 100 times worse,” one employee told the NY Post.

“We hate SpaceX,” he added. “We talk s–t about them all the time, and now they’re bailing us out.”

“It’s shameful. I’m embarrassed, I’m horrified,” the employee said.

Given the extent of Boeing’s troubles, it’s unclear what it will take for the beleaguered company to turn things around.

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