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Musk Co SpaceX wins injunction to stop USAF buying Russian rocket engines

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A U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge issued an injunction late Wednesday prohibiting a joint venture between Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing from proceeding with plans to buy Russian-made rocket engines used to send U.S. Air Force satellites into space. (www.reuters.com) Mehr...

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tph2503
Ted Hromyak 4
BUY AMERICAN !!!!!
honzanl
honza nl 1
you probably write this on a China-manufactured device ?!
mdlacey
Matt Lacey 2
The Air Force does not buy the engines. United Launch Alliance does. The fact is that America invested in computers in the 50s and 60s when Russia invested in metals. Hence we did not require huge engines because our avionics were lighter and our design computers could optimize structure better. When Lockheed Martin sought to find the best engine on the planet in the late 90s for its Atlas V, Glushko's Energomash had the best and cheapest - in both ways huge leaps over anything domestically available. The DoD approved the purchase and incorporation in the Atlas design - better to have the Russians working for our rockets than for the Iranians or the NorKs.

Here we are 15 years later, and there is a new player in the field. It has 11 consecutive successes, 4 with its current rocket. The incumbent has something like 116 consecutive successes, 45 with its current rocket. Those are the facts.

Are you ready to entrust a $1.5B satellite on a newer rocket at half the price? That is the question USAF and NASA decisionmakers struggle with every day. The answer could go either way.
Walt53
Matt, Thank you for explaining why we buy Russian engines. However, I must agree with Sen. John McCain, a member of the Armed Services Committee, who told a panal that U.S. dependence on Russian President Vladamir Putin for rocket motors was a reason "we should be looking desperately for competition" in space launches.
honzanl
honza nl 1
that is a good contribution: facts. But unfortunately, many disregard facts and go for the populism...
LordLayton
Good!, Boeing and Lockheed should be working with SpaceX.
Walt53
Less American jobs = Less Tax payers = Less USAF = A Russian Dream.
honzanl
honza nl 1
you buy Russian engines, they buy your Boeings. It is called trade. It used to be the foundation of your wealth....
Walt53
If You Don't Make it.....You can't Trade it!
kupuna11
Thomas Craig 2
Looks like we are going to need that trampoline to get the ISS
LordLayton
Good!, Boeing and Lockheed should be working with SpaceX.
johncook1
john cook 1
SpaceX, co-founded by investor Elon Musk who also heads electric car company Tesla
rogerscher
rogerscher 0
Good for SpaceX; good for America and American businesses; good for free enterprise and the private sector; bad for the corrupt Obama administration; bad for Russia and the oligarchs, like Putin, that run Russia and profit from every commercial venture of any substance, especially in the defense industry. Buy American -- always!
aafrq
aafrq 2
Where do you come off with your Obama comment ?
How more corrupt is it than the Cheney-Bush administration ?
Bush gave free reign to the KGB Colonel.....look at US now !
murray07
Murray Wilson 0
What was the USAF thinking?! Was the procurement manager getting a kick-back? Being left without access to LEO and the ISS was a known risk to retiring the Space Shuttle before having a replacement. That was a mistake, and we will probably pay the price. Hopefully, it will light a fire under the administration to give NASA enough money to give to SpaceX so we can get back into space.
johncook1
john cook -3
SpaceX is the Obummer puppet they have received billions from BOB.
And BOB has received millions from SpaceX/Tesla in campaign funds.
Ever wonder how SpaceX got certified so fast? only 1 successful trip to ISS.
And now they have shutdown the only 2 competitors that have been doing the job for the last 50 years?
Who was it that shutdown NASA?
BOB?
mdlacey
Matt Lacey 2
Good grief. I'm a conservative, and there are so many inaccuracies in that statement. NASA is not shut down. The Columbia Accident Investigation Board in 2003 recommended that the Shuttle be recertified in 2010 for continued use. What do you know about ISS Integration, the process by which a vehicle is allowed to approach the ISS? SpaceX has now been to the ISS 4 times, including the current Dragon mission attached to the ISS.

Check opensecrets.org. You'll see that Elon's campaign donations are roughly equal.

If you're going to argue from the Right, at least do so with facts.
johncook1
john cook -2
Not going to argue with you Mat.
SpaceX has attempted to go to ISS 6 times-first attempt catastrophic failure on launch pad 3 times did not reach orbit-1 time was lost in orbit[fell into ocean off Australia's coast]
a week later, last time it worked.
What I know about ISS is most of the people involved in the program to date, and your are NOT one of them!
NOW BOB in 2007 had his first 2 campaign dinners at Mr Musks house and every time obummer comes to the west coast he has a dinner or a meet and greet at Elon house I guess that's about equal, whatever that means?
So Mat if your going to argue from the LEFT don't pretend to be from the right people.
Remember [if there lips are moving there lying]
But I was wrong with my statement- NASA is shut down, it is just a ghost of whet it used to be.
My department used to have 650 more people then it has now, and all the supervisors are afraid of being politically incorrect.
So remember Mat this is not my real name and I do not work for NASA.
mdlacey
Matt Lacey 3
Again, lack of facts. The Falcon 1, a much smaller rocket that can only lift 200kg into LEO, failed its first 3 launches, as recently in 2008. Its last 2 launches, also from the Kwajelein atoll, were successful. All nine Falcon 9 launches have been successful, and all four Dragon missions to the ISS have been successful.

There are thousands of people working on the ISS and for the last six years I've been the launch vehicle advisor for the resupply missions using Falcon and Antares. You could continue to argue with me, but you will continue to be refuted.

You can also look me up and see where I'm registered. I find that calling PBHO names does nothing to sway the folks in the middle. That's the only way we'll restore small government to the federal level.

Please post news articles supporting your claims about Elon hosting PBHO. That's how we used to argue in America, evidence not conjecture.
aafrq
aafrq 4
I am someone "in the middle" I rate Matt as believable and John full of it.....
Not that it matters what I personally think, but I am tired of the constant 'BOB' by
Right wingers who mold the 'facts' to suite their own ' opinions'........
mdlacey
Matt Lacey 2
Cheers! I'm a right winger who has even less patience for my fellows who invoke hearsay and sentiment than I do for leftists who invoke bad analysis.

Show me the stuff in a political argument of the rigor that's required/expected in a technical one, and my politics will align with that stuff. Heretofore that stuff is right of center. Lord knows my social life would be better if it were left, but my engineering degrees and oaths render me incapable of that lie.

murray07
Murray Wilson 3
Better yet, let's leave political opinions out of these threads. Yes, I knocked the Obama administration for retiring the Shuttle, but that was a policy issue, not a personal or political issue.
beilstwh
beilstwh 0
excellent. To issue a non-compete contract for a Russian firm when an American firm can do the same job is just wrong. They didn't even give them a chance to bid for the contract.

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