Boeing CEO has repeated his claim that Boeing will beat Spacex in sending a manned mission to Mars.

Boeing CEO Muilenburg outlined the buildup to Boeing's Mars mission.

"We're working on that next generation rocket right now with our NASA customers called 'Space Launch System,'" Muilenburg said. "This is a rocket that's about 36 stories tall, we're in the final assembly right now, down near New Orleans. And we're going to take a first test flight in 2019 and we're going to do a slingshot mission around the moon."

Space Launch System is getting about $4 billion per year from NASA. They have gotten $20 billion from NASA for this and $10 billion for the prior Constellation program. They have not launched anything despite getting about $30 billion and having had over ten years.