United Launch Alliance

ULA’s Debuts New “RocketBuilder” Website

ULA’s Debuts New “RocketBuilder” Website

It may not have a reusable rocket, or even the prospect of one, but that doesn’t mean United Launch Alliance isn’t without a few advantages of its own in competing for commercial launch orders. On Wednesday, ULA introduced a new website, called RocketBuilder.com, meant to highlight its newfound commitment to transparency, lowering launch prices and becoming […]

EELV Phase 2 and Blue Origin: Where’s the Congressional Curiosity?

EELV Phase 2 and Blue Origin: Where’s the Congressional Curiosity?

Responding to a letter from Congressman Mike Rogers, (R) Al, the GAO has released a report summarizing a presentation made before the House Armed Services Committee on June 6. The report, which is focused on the space launch capabilities of other nations, was requested as the Air Force prepares to structure the next phase of […]

Atlas, Delta, Falcon and Whole Bunch of Smoke

Atlas, Delta, Falcon and Whole Bunch of Smoke

Opinionated Analysis The ping pong match between the House and the Senate over ULA’s request for more RD-180 engines for the Atlas V was in the hands of the latter yesterday, where the Senate Armed Services Committee once again insisted that the number be limited to 9 engines beyond tbose already ordered as part of […]

SpaceX Wins Contract ULA Refused to Bid; Saves Taxpayer $60 Million

SpaceX Wins Contract ULA Refused to Bid; Saves Taxpayer $60 Million

Mars was not the only thing in SpaceX’s orbit on Thursday. On the same day that the company announced it is aiming for a landing on the Red Planet as early as 2018, it also landed the first award in its long sought campaign to launch national security missions under the Air Force’s EELV program. […]

Congress Prepares to Push the AR-1 on ULA

Congress Prepares to Push the AR-1 on ULA

The long and increasingly sordid saga of America’s dependence, and indeed bizarre fascination with the Russian RD-180 engine for the Atlas V booster is set to take another turn this week. And if certain scenarios play out, observers could be forgiven for wondering is there any limit to how much damage elected representatives from the […]

Atlas V’s RD-180 Shut Down Early on NASA Cargo Launch

Atlas V’s RD-180 Shut Down Early on NASA Cargo Launch

For anyone who was paying extraordinarily close attention to the ULA/Orbital ATK launch of an Atlas V rocket to the International Space Station on Tuesday night, a slight discrepancy in the timing of first stage main engine cutoff might have been noticeable. And if you caught that, then a burn of the Centaur upper stage’s […]

ULA Completes Preliminary Design Review of Vulcan Centaur Rocket W/ BE-4 Engines

ULA Completes Preliminary Design Review of Vulcan Centaur Rocket W/ BE-4 Engines

ULA Press Release: United Launch Alliance Completes Preliminary Design Review for Next-Generation Vulcan Centaur Rocket Centennial, Colo., (March 24, 2016) – United Launch Alliance (ULA) successfully completed the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) for the Vulcan Centaur launch vehicle with dual Blue Origin BE-4 engines. The PDR, a major milestone in development of the Vulcan launch […]

“Space Settling for Less” : ULA Dismissal Underscores the High Costs of Low Expectations

“Space Settling for Less” : ULA Dismissal Underscores the High Costs of Low Expectations

Editorial: It is has not been a particularly good week for United Launch Alliance, and especially for now former VP of Engineering Brett Tobey, who resigned after making a number of controversial comments during a speech at the University of Colorado-Boulder. The story has unfolded in a flurry of articles in Space News, which on […]

XCOR/ULA Partnership Continues With Air Force Upper Stage Development Contract

XCOR/ULA Partnership Continues With Air Force Upper Stage Development Contract

XCOR Press Release US AIR FORCE AWARDS ULA AND XCOR CONTRACT FOR UPPER STAGE PROPULSION Midland TX, March 9, 2016, United Launch Alliance (ULA), the nation’s premier launch services provider, has awarded XCOR Aerospace with a new contract through the United States Air Force to develop an upper stage propulsion system for Vulcan, ULA’s next-generation […]

Russian Rocket Engine Replacement : Air Force Makes Two More Awards

Russian Rocket Engine Replacement : Air Force Makes Two More Awards

The Air Force has made two more awards in an effort to extricate itself from a controversial, and at times baffling American dependence on Russian rocket engines used to boost some of the nation’s most valuable and sensitive payloads into space. Yesterday’s awards, announced by the Space and Missile Systems PAO, went to Aerojet Rocketdyne […]

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