WASHINGTON – Despite rumors to the contrary, Boeing is not preparing to exit the space business, a vice president for the aerospace giant said.
“I know there’s been some discussion about that, but it is core to the business that I run, the satellite and associated ground work,” Michelle Parker, Boeing Space Mission Systems vice president, told SpaceNews at the Satellite 2025 conference. “We are investing heavily in this area. We’re looking forward to delivering capabilities to the customer this year, next year and well beyond that.”
The Wall Street Journal reported in October that Boeing was in early-stage discussions to sell the portion of its space business responsible for the CST-100 Starliner, a spacee capsule to transports astronauts and cargo to and from the International Space Station.
Without addressing the report, Parker discussed strong demand for Boeing Space Mission Systems products including commercial and government satellites and the X-37B military spaceplane. Parker’s organization based in El Segundo, California, also oversees Boeing subsidiaries Spectrolab, a solar panel manufacturer, and Millennium Space Systems, a prime contractor for small satellites.
Commercial and Military Orders
After winning a $414 million contract from the U.S. Space Force Space Development Agency to build eight satellites for the Fire-control On Orbit-support-to-the-war Fighter (Foo Fighter) program, Millennium began expanding its small satellite factory.
“We’ll double that capacity as orders continue to come in,” Parker said.
In addition, Boeing Space Mission Systems is on contract to deliver five more O3b mPower communications satellites to SES, a 12th Wideband Global Satcom geostationary satellite under a $439.6 million U.S. Space Force contract and six satellites to detect and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles under a $386 million Space Force award.
Spectrolab, meanwhile, is increasing production of solar cells for Boeing and other customers.
“With all the satellites being built comes the demand for more solar cells,” Parker said. “We’re looking to increase Spectrolab’s capacity and then drive the price point down with automation.”
Boeing Losses
Boeing, based in Arlington, Virginia, reported a loss of $11.8 billion in 2024, with more than $500 million related to the Starliner program.
Starliner and the Space Launch System, the moon rocket for NASA’s Artemis program, fall under Boeing Defense Space & Security but are not part of Boeing Space Mission Systems.
When Boeing Space Mission Systems was formed about two years, “we set a plan to increase our production and take advantage of this broad portfolio, from small satellites to big satellites,” Parker said. “We’re seeing the fruits of those labors.”
