United Launch Alliance

Meet ULA’s Vulcan Rocket

Meet ULA’s Vulcan Rocket

Vulcan Booster / Image Credit United Launch Alliance United Launch Alliance formally introduced its new booster on Monday. Intended to replace both the Atlas and Delta product lines over time, the new rocket’s name is Vulcan., although ULA also refers to the booster as the Next Generation Launch System. The name was chosen in an […]

Dueling Events for SpaceX and ULA Make for a Major Monday

Dueling Events for SpaceX and ULA Make for a Major Monday

As NASA and SpaceX are counting down to the planned 4:33 PM EDT CRS-6 cargo flight to the International Space Station on Monday, April 13th., United Launch Alliance is counting down to a press conference introducing its new rocket which will be held at nearly the same time. The ULA press conference at which President […]

SpaceX, ULA and the Delta IV

SpaceX, ULA and the Delta IV

Delta Heavy / Image Credit United Launch Alliance An Innerspace Editorial: In what seems to be becoming something of an annual affair, it was SpaceX versus United Launch Alliance Round earlier this week in Washington D.C. Last year, SpaceX’s Elon Musk and ULA’s Michael Gass squared off against each other in a highly contentious Senate […]

Boeing, ULA Break Ground on Commercial Crew Access Tower

Boeing, ULA Break Ground on Commercial Crew Access Tower

Artists Conception of Boeing/ULA Commercial Crew Tower / Image Credit: ULA From NASA.GOV “Boeing and United Launch Alliance teams held a ceremonial groundbreaking Feb. 20 to begin construction on the first new crew access structure at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in decades. The preparations will enable Space Launch Complex 41 to host astronauts and […]

SpaceX Drops Block Buy Lawsuit in Exchange for “Expanded Competitive Opportunties”

SpaceX Drops Block Buy Lawsuit in Exchange for “Expanded Competitive Opportunties”

Only a few days after officially entering mediation, SpaceX has agreed to drop its lawsuit against the Air Force’s block buy of 36 launch cores from ULA under the EELV program. Here a joint statement released by SpaceX the Air Force: “The Air Force and SpaceX have reached agreement on a path forward for the […]

Dismissal Denied, SpaceX Lawsuit Against ULA Block Buy Goes On

Dismissal Denied, SpaceX Lawsuit Against ULA Block Buy Goes On

On April 28, 2014, SpaceX filed a lawsuit in the United States Court of Federal Claims seeking to block the USAF “block buy” of 36 rocket cores from the EELV program’s sole source provider United Launch Alliance. After a series of legal maneuvers which included a temporary injunction, soon dismissed, against further purchases of Russian […]

XCOR / ULA Upper Stage Engine Passes New Milestone

XCOR / ULA Upper Stage Engine Passes New Milestone

Hydrogen Piston Pump: Image Credit XCOR Aerospace XCOR has announced a new milestone in its upper stage engine program being supported by United Launch Alliance. The complete press release is below.  From a big picture standpoint, ULA appears to be in an interesting state of transition, with stories coming out in a bad cop/good cop […]

Reuters Investigation Sheds New Light on Russian Engine Deal

Reuters Investigation Sheds New Light on Russian Engine Deal

Michal Gass, Former President and CEO of United Launch Alliance Following up on questions posed in a letter by U.S. Senator John McCain to the US Air Force chief of acquisitions, Reuters has been looking closer into the United Launch Alliance RD-180 issue, and the mysterious five person company RD-Amross, which serves as the Russian […]

Blue Origin, ULA Announce New Engine Project

Blue Origin, ULA Announce New Engine Project

The Times They Are A Changin Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance held a news conference at the National Press Club today entitled “Igniting the Future.” The purpose was announce the joint development of a new main engine to replace the Russian built RD-180 which powers the Atlas V booster. Called the BE-4, the new […]

More Good News for SpaceX and a Billion Dollar “Subsidy” for ULA

More Good News for SpaceX and a Billion Dollar “Subsidy” for ULA

Image Credit: SpaceX SpaceX’s really good Tuesday, which saw the company win a potential $2.6 billion dollar share of NASA’s Commercial Crew program was also highlighted by an advance in another of the company’s long sought goals. Amid all the publicity surrounding the NASA award,  Space News reported that the Air Force believes the company […]

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