WASHINGTON ¨C A Boeing-Lockheed joint venture¡¯s launch of a new Vulcan rocket this week inaugurated a formidable rival to Elon Musk¡¯s SpaceX, a milestone long sought by the U.S. government as it seeks to build a list of launch suppliers for its satellites.
Boeing and Lockheed Martin¡¯s United Launch Alliance sent Vulcan into space for the first time on Monday, a first step toward reclaiming market share from SpaceX, whose reusable Falcon 9 rocket for years has been the main option for countries to get their satellites into space. The payload, a privately funded moon lander, will not finish its mission because of tech problems, but the Vulcan launch in Florida was a success.
¡°This launch puts ULA in the front-runner position to challenge SpaceX¡¯s de facto monopoly over launch,¡± said Caleb Henry, a space analyst at Quilty Analytics. ¡°If ULA can prove that Vulcan can scale up to a rapid launch cadence quickly, they will provide the market with another route to space.¡±
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.