The Starliner will likely return to Earth without incident. All launches and returns have inherent risks of failure. The Boeing craft was no riskier than any competitors, but it had something the others didn’t. The name “Boeing” on the side. NASA lacks confidence in the company and won’t take the humiliation risk of something happening to a Boeing product on their watch.
Boeing will likely cancel the Starliner and use the money on the R&D costs for the next generation of airliners. Working with NASA is not worth the risk.
“Boeing will likely cancel the Starliner and use the money on the R&D costs for the next generation of airliners. “
Um, nope. Boeing has canceled R&D on new aircraft, and Starliner was built with funds they received to build it and will not be receiving again.