NASA weighs replacing Boeing SLS with SpaceX Starship, citing $4B costs

NASA officials are meeting with Boeing, SpaceX, and Blue Origin today, March 24, to discuss a significant change to the Artemis moon mission architecture.

The agency is considering using SpaceX’s Starship to propel the Orion crew capsule into lunar orbit. Boeing’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket currently holds this responsibility.

NASA is re-evaluating the strategy due to persistent delays and rising program costs. The SLS rocket carries an average launch cost of approximately $4 billion per flight.

Minimizing Boeing’s role would signal a pivotal shift in NASA’s deep space contracting preferences. This decision would represent a major blow to Boeing and a monumental victory for SpaceX.