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Commercialization

ULA Gets A Russian Christmas Gift From Sen. Shelby

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
December 23, 2015
ULA Gets A Russian Christmas Gift From Sen. Shelby

ULA Orders RD-180 Engines to Serve Civil, Commercial Contracts, ULA
“ULA has ordered additional Atlas engines to serve our existing and potential civil and commercial launch customers until a new American-made engine can be developed and certified. While ULA strongly believes now is the right time to move to an American engine solution for the future, it is also critical to ensure a smooth transition to that engine and to preserve healthy competition in the launch industry.”
Rocket security for the Rocket City – thanks to Senator Shelby, Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, Huntsville Times
“We thank Senator Shelby for his leadership in the Senate, for securing our nation’s defense, ensuring America stays on the technological forefront in space, and for keeping important, valuable jobs in North Alabama.”
Sen. Shelby: The King Of Political Cronyism and Hypocrisy, earlier post
Congress Blinks on RD-180s, earlier post
DoD Denies RD-180 Waiver For ULA, earlier post
Rep. Rogers Hates Everything Russian – Except Russian Rocket Engines, earlier post
Earlier RD-180 posts

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

15 responses to “ULA Gets A Russian Christmas Gift From Sen. Shelby”

  1. P.K. Sink says:
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    I wonder how long they’re gonna drag out the Vulcan development program?

    • EtOH says:
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      Depends whether the parent corporations want to actually fight for the future of ULA, or just milk the Atlas V as long as they can before paring back to their core competence: bloated defense contracts.

      • Jeff2Space says:
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        This might move the deadline for Vulcan development a bit, but I don’t see them “milking” Atlas V for long given its higher cost than the currently expendable Falcon 9. With Falcon Heavy and reusable Falcon first/core stages in the works, SpaceX certainly won’t be “milking” the expendable Falcon 9.

  2. Don Denesiuk says:
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    Just how many Civil, Commercial contracts does ULA have ( besides Cygnus which is technically also a government contract)?

  3. Arthur Hamilton says:
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    Atlas V will probably fly into the 2020’s…..

  4. savuporo says:
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    They spent no time at all thinking this over, did they ? Quick, before the wind flag turns ..

    So, with 20 engines and around 5 million per engine mark-up, someone just made a easy hundred million dollars ?

  5. Michael Spencer says:
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    And this surprised exactly…who?

  6. richard_schumacher says:
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    Maybe this is a Pyrrhic victory. How can ULA win any business? Will not SpaceX underbid them significantly every time?

    • Ben Russell-Gough says:
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      I think that ULA are banking on non-financial considerations to get business.

      FWIW, Atlas-V has a higher payload limit than Falcon-9, especially to GTO and through escape velocity. So it isn’t as if ULA have nothing to bring to the table!

      • EtOH says:
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        They’ve got that advantage for another year or so, until the Falcon Heavy starts launching. At that point, their only selling point will be reliability for the more risk-averse customers, plus SpaceX’s packed manifest.

        • Jeff2Space says:
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          But as SpaceX starts to reuse Falcon 9 first stages (and Falcon Heavy boosters and cores), the pace of launches should pick up for SpaceX. That and once their KSC and Texas launch sites are up and running, that will mean at least four pads on three coasts from which to launch (Vandenberg, Cape Canaveral, KSC, and Texas).

  7. Bunker9603 says:
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    I wonder if this got pushed through because ULA no bid the GPS launch?

  8. Steve Harrington says:
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    This is what makes America great, great lobbyists and politicians spewing great BS.

  9. Daniel Woodard says:
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    Many federal programs are controlled by Congress, which is at the service of its lobbyists.