Elon Musk Reacts To NASA Data Boeing Prices Higher Than SpaceX: 'Doesn't Seem Right'

American Space agency NASA's latest report that said its cost with Boeing was more than SpaceX in the commercial crew program has elicited a reaction from Elon Musk who tweeted, “doesn’t seem right.”

The report had shown Boeing was paid more than SpaceX for making the capsule Starliner.

The NASA report says both Boeing and SpaceX together received nearly $7 billion since 2014 for developing their separate capsule systems.

However, the program was bogged down by many delays including testing mishaps. Per the report by NASA Inspector General Paul Martin, plane maker Boeing received a total of $4.82 billion from NASA over the lifetime of the commercial crew program compared to $3.14 billion paid to SpaceX. But Musk’s reaction said the imputation was not fair that “Boeing got more for the same thing.”

The report also showed estimated per seat prices and revealed Boeing took more money from NASA beyond the fixed-price award. Boeing's per-seat price was higher than that of SpaceX.

NASA’s commercial crew program was launched in 2014 to develop vehicles to transport astronauts to the International Space Station. It was also a plan to end NASA's reliance on Russian spacecraft Soyuz for the purpose and cut the cost burden.

Accordingly, Boeing had to deliver Starliner and SpaceX the Crew Dragon capsule. The report also hints that while NASA agreed to pay Boeing more Space X was not given a similar deal.

“In contrast, SpaceX was not notified of this change and was not provided an opportunity to propose similar capabilities that could have resulted in less cost or broader mission flexibilities,” Martin added.

Concern over cost escalation

Reflecting on the cost burden, the inspector general said NASA could have saved $144 million by making “simple changes” to Starliner's launch schedule and taking some additional seats in the Russian space vehicle Soyuz, which the agency was using on rental since 2011 after retiring its space shuttle program.

This is the first time NASA is revealing the per-seat price computation. While Starliner seat costs $90 million, that of Space X Crew Dragon is just $55 million.

Boeing's price also appeared higher than NASA's payment to Russian’s space company Roscosmos for ferrying its men into the space station.

Overall, NASA's cost to Russia was $79.7 million per seat since 2017, per NASA news.

Martin's report also revealed why NASA was forced to pay an additional amount to Boeing beyond the fixed-price award. It was aimed to pre-empt Boeing’s threat of backing out of the commercial crew program.

However, Boeing’s spokesman Josh Barrett denied Boeing ever threatened to walk out of the commercial crew participation.

“Boeing has made significant investments in the commercial crew program and in keeping the ISS fully crewed and operational,” Barret told Ars Technica.