costplus contracts and propping up Boeing.

I still want Starliner to succeed after all this time, money, and effort. Crew rating Vulcan is a good sign that they actually want to keep flying it beyond the initially contracted Atlas Vs. But I also really hope Blue Origin and The Exploration Company get working crew capsules so we don't have to rely on Boeing.

Yep I hear that for sure.

I hope they can get everything working... but I don't want to rely on them. It's super exciting to see the potential for a European crew capsule. It looks like the esa is actually planning a few different options.

If Starliner can help bridge the gap to something else, then it will have been worth the money and headache IMO. But, yeah, it's probably a dead end. I just don't see a world where Starliner flies commercial missions the way Dragon has been.