A Boeing-built rocket is set to propel four astronauts to orbit the moon, marking the first time humans have left Earth orbit since the Apollo missions more than 50 years ago.

That rocket — known as the Space Launch System — completed an uncrewed mission to the moon in 2022, the first in a series of launches designed to land humans on the lunar surface and study how to one day use the moon as a pit stop on the way to Mars.

The second mission in the Artemis program is set to lift off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, as early as Wednesday afternoon. During the 10-day mission, four astronauts will leave Earth’s orbit, circle the moon and then splash down in the Pacific Ocean. Future Artemis missions aim to land two astronauts on the moon's south pole in 2028.

In the lead-up to what should be a triumphant milestone, though, Boeing’s space division has faced a rocky path.

Already delayed, the Artemis II launch was postponed again in February after engineers discovered a helium leak in a part of the Space Launch System, or SLS, rocket.

In March, NASA announced a slate of changes for future Artemis missions, including a shift that could reduce Boeing’s role. NASA cited program delays.

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, a separate program that sent astronauts to the International Space Station in 2024 left the two astronauts stranded on the ISS for months following a technical problem. In a scathing report published in February, NASA classified the Starliner incident as a Type A mishap, on par with the Challenger and Columbia space shuttle disasters. NASA later reduced the number of missions it had contracted for Starliner.

As Boeing considers competing for future NASA contracts, the company is likely on high alert, said Kenny Evans, a fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

“I’m sure they’re trying to do whatever they can to make NASA happy at this point,” Evans said.

In 2024, at the height of turmoil in Boeing’s commercial airplanes division, the company reportedly considered selling its space unit as part of CEO Kelly Ortberg’s strategy to focus on the core areas of the business and cut costs.

Two years later, Boeing hasn’t shed its major space projects, and its SLS rocket is set to face another test as it prepares for takeoff.

Boeing in space

Boeing has been involved in many of America’s space-exploration efforts, including the Apollo moonshot.

Boeing built the Saturn V rocket that delivered the first astronauts to the lunar surface in 1969 and 1972. It later worked on NASA’s Space Shuttle program and served as the prime contractor for the International Space Station.

But, compared to its commercial airplanes business, space is a small part of the overall company. When reporting financials, Boeing lumps its space division with its defense unit, so it's difficult to determine how much revenue Boeing earns — or how much money it spends — on space projects.

The company’s Defense, Space and Security division recorded $27 billion in revenue in 2025, while its commercial airplanes division reported more than $41 billion. Boeing’s aftermarket support and maintenance business, Global Services, reported nearly $21 billion in revenue last year.

Making planes is the most important thing Boeing does, and the space business is really a much smaller part of the overall picture," said Ben Tsocanos, an aerospace analyst with S&P Global Ratings.

Changes to the space business — good or bad — don't really move the financial needle for the company, he said. But its worth keeping a "foothold" in the industry, Tsocanos continued. It drives technological innovation, helps with recruitment and positions Boeing to compete if defense programs shift to space.

NASA is Boeing’s second-largest government customer, but trails significantly behind the Department of Defense, according to USA Spending, a database that tracks federal spending. Boeing's contracts with the Defense Department are worth $20 billion, while NASA is obligated to pay Boeing $1.3 billion.

In terms of federal dollars, Boeing falls squarely between its two main space competitors. Jeff Bezos’ Kent, Washington-based rocket company Blue Origin had $754 million in NASA contracts, while Elon Musk's SpaceX had contracts valued at $1.9 billion.

Boeing declined to share how many of its nearly 182,000 employees work in the space division. That work is spread across several facilities, including sites in Alabama, California, Florida and Louisiana.

Outside of the SLS rocket for the Artemis program, its Starliner spacecraft and the International Space Station, Boeing also works on space-related cyber solutions, satellites and an autonomous space plane used for research missions.

Separately, Boeing and Lockheed Martin jointly run the United Launch Alliance, a 50-50 venture formed in 2006 when the two companies combined their efforts to build, test and launch rockets.

Based in Colorado, ULA has faced its own quality challenges, most recently as it works to address a recurring problem on its next-generation Vulcan rocket. In December, ULA’s president and CEO Tory Bruno stepped down to join competitor Blue Origin.

The Artemis missions

Forty-one Washington state companies have a hand in the Artemis program, including several that are working on multiple missions, according to a recent count from U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington. Blue Origin is not involved in the Artemis II mission but does have contracts for later stages of the program. Boeing is not working on the Artemis program in its Washington facilities.

The SLS rocket involves more than 1,100 companies, according to NASA.

Boeing is involved with at least eight crucial systems for SLS, including the large tanks that hold liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, the section that attaches the engines to rocket boosters, and the piece that houses what Boeing calls the “brains” of the SLS, flight computers that ensure the rocket reaches its destination.

Boeing also builds the core stage and upper stage, which first propel the rocket off the launchpad and then, once in orbit, set the spacecraft on a precise path.

NASA plans to use the same 212 foot tall, 188,000 lbs. core stage for future Artemis missions.

After the first three missions, though, it had planned to swap one Boeing-built upper stage for another Boeing-made product, called Exploration Upper Stage, meant to produce more thrust and carry 40% more payload.

But in March, NASA changed course.

It will no longer use Boeing’s Exploration Upper Stage or an updated ground structure designed by another company. That's partly because the projects had "faced delays" and partly because the space agency wants to standardize the equipment it uses for future missions. The agency is “assessing alternative options” for the later Artemis missions.

A Boeing spokesperson said the company was "working closely with NASA to support its revised Artemis architecture."

In the same announcement, NASA said it planned to increase the cadence of rocket launches and had added an additional Artemis mission as a test-run before attempting to land humans on the moon in 2028.

The SLS rocket successfully launched the Artemis I mission in 2022, propelling an uncrewed Orion spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin, around the moon and back.

As NASA was gearing up to launch SLS for a second time in February, it found a helium leak in the rocket’s upper stage. NASA rolled the rocket back from the launchpad to the Vehicle Assembly Building, a four-mile journey that requires slowly rolling the 11 million lb. stack on a “mobile launcher.”

In less than a month, NASA identified what had caused the helium leak, performed repairs and other maintenance on the rocket and prepared the SLS to travel back to the launchpad. The rocket arrived later in March and engineers began preparing it for takeoff as soon as April 1.

The Starliner catastrophe

In September 2024, astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams stayed behind on the International Space Station as Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft returned to Earth without them.

The spacecraft had experienced a problem with its propulsion system, and Boeing and NASA determined it was too risky for the crew to return to Earth on the vehicle that had delivered them to the ISS. The astronauts instead hitched a ride back to Earth months later on SpaceX’s Crew-9 Dragon spacecraft.

In February, NASA released its investigation report and recommended retroactively classifying the incident as a Type A mishap, its most severe classification that indicates there was a chance of fatalities.

The report found several technical concerns with the Starliner spacecraft but it also identified broad culture concerns at Boeing and NASA, including inadequate testing that didn’t seek to find the “root cause” of an issue, rushing to meet schedule deadlines and a feeling of distrust in the decision-making process among employees.

Workers interviewed in the report said they did not feel they could raise concerns and found meetings were “emotionally charged and unproductive.”

In the 18 months since the Starliner incident, Boeing has "made substantial progress" to address technical challenges and "driven significant cultural changes across the team," a company spokesperson said Monday.

Boeing is preparing for its next Starliner mission, which could take off as soon as this month, the spokesperson said. The next mission will only carry cargo.

On the recent report from NASA, the Boeing spokesperson said the findings "will reinforce our ongoing efforts to strengthen our work.

NASA has already modified its Starliner contract with Boeing, reducing the number of crewed flights from six to four, with the remaining two available as options.

Taken individually, problems with the Starliner spacecraft shouldn't impact the SLS rocket, or Boeing's other space projects. But looking at the big picture, NASA might be “skeptical of Boeing as an organization,” said Greg Autry, an associate provost for space commercialization and strategy at the University of Central Florida.

“It’s hard, honestly, not to be concerned about that,” Autry said. “It’s incumbent on Boeing to fix this problem and put it to bed.”

NASA's Artemis II mission on Wednesday could be the next test of Boeing's moonshot ambitions.

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