As tensions over Ukraine continue to simmer, United Launch Alliance has taken steps to speed up the delivery of Russian RD-180 engines that power its Atlas V launch vehicle. Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, draft legislation being circulated in the House would prohibit the company from using those engines to launch any of the Defense Department’s crucial payloads.

These moves come as SpaceX is filing an appeal to a U.S. Air Force decision to award ULA a contract for 36 rocket cores for its Atlas V and Delta IV boosters. The company, which is seeking to open certain launches to competitive bidding, has attacked the sole-source deal as unfair, and criticized continued U.S. reliance on Russian rocket engines for the launch of defense spacecraft.

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This week on The Space Show with Dr. David Livingston: 1. Monday, April 28, 2014, 2-3:30 PM PDT(5-6:30 PM EDT, 4-5:30 PM CDT): JOHN SPENCER AND NICOLA SARZI-AMADE on ISDC 2014 from May 14-18, 2014. See https://isdc.nss.org/2014. 2. Tuesday, April 29, 2014:, 7-8:30 PM PDT (10-11:30 PM EDT, 9-10:30 PM CDT): DR. AJAY KOTHARI, President of Astrox (see www.astrox.com). We will be discussing hypersonics and more. See his Op-Ed on […]

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., April 23, 2014 (Citizens in Space PR) — Citizens in Space, a project of the United States Rocket Academy, has joined the lineup for MakerCon, which takes place at the Oracle Conference Center in Redwood City on May 13-14, 2014.

MakerCon is a premiere event organized by Maker Media, publisher of Make magazine and producer of Maker Faire. MakerCon brings together the leaders at the forefront of the maker movement. The conference provides new insights into local and global manufacturing, design, marketing and distribution, and diverse funding options to help makers bring their products to market.

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John McCain

WASHINGTON, D.C. ­(Senator McCain PR) – U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) today sent two letters regarding the Air Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program – a vital $70 billion national security space-launch program that, without competition, has been plagued by exponential cost growth and schedule delays.

The first letter is to Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James requesting additional information about her recent testimony regarding the EELV program before the Senate Armed Services Committee on April 10, 2014, and conveying concern about the apparently incomplete and incorrect nature of some of that testimony.

The second letter is to the Department of Defense Inspector General Jon T. Rymer requesting that his office investigate recent developments regarding the EELV program.

Both letters are below.

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Lt Gen Ellen Pawlikowski, Space and Missile Systems Center commander, signed agreements with Space-X CEO Elon Musk, Jun 7, 2013 at the Space-X facility in Hawthorne, Calif. (Credit: USAF/Joe Juarez)

During his press conference on Friday, Elon Musk made a rather odd claim when asked why he waited to late April to file an appeal on the U.S. Air Force’s decision to award a 36-core launch contract to ULA back in December. Marcia Smith succinctly summarizes Musk’s answer and why it’s wrong:

He replied that although it was awarded in December, he did not know about it until March, specifically the day after the March Senate Appropriations Committee hearing.  He said he did not think it was “an accident” that it only became public at that time.

The contract award was posted on the FedBizOpps website on December 19, 2013, however, and written up in trade publications soon thereafter.  SpaceX has not replied to an email requesting clarification on what it was that the company did not know until March.

The day after the Senate hearing DOD officials did reveal in a budget briefing that the number of launches it is setting aside specifically for “new entrants” like SpaceX would be fewer than earlier planned over the next few years.  Those launches are in addition to the 36 launches in the December contract, however.

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A Falcon 9 carries a Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. (Credit: NASA TV)

Washington, DC, April 25, 2014 (SPACEX PR) – SpaceX announced today that they are filing a legal challenge to the U.S. Air Force’s latest Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) contract with United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin. The long-term contract, which guarantees the purchase of 36 rocket cores from ULA to be used in national security launches, was granted to ULA on a sole-source basis without any competition from other launch providers. SpaceX is seeking the right to compete for some of these same launches.

“This exclusive deal unnecessarily costs U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars and defers meaningful free competition for years to come,” said Elon Musk. “We are simply asking that SpaceX and any other qualified domestic launch providers be allowed to compete in the EELV program for any and all missions that they could launch.”

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By Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

I’m going to go way out on a limb here and probably royally piss off SpaceX’s many supporters, but I’m really not a fan of the company’s lawsuit against the U.S. Air Force over its bulk buy of 36 rocket cores from United Launch Alliance.

I understand the reasoning behind it. The Air Force has locked SpaceX out of competing for most defense launches for the next few years. And that will cost the company launch business. And it will cost taxpayers more than if some of these launches were awarded to SpaceX.

My objection primarily comes down to the fact that although SpaceX’s Falcon 9 has proven reliable thus far, the company has failed to launch them on any sort of regular basis. I’m also a bit baffled that the company wants to add more launches to an already crowded manifest that keeps slipping to the right.

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Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield maintaining Biolab in Europe’s Columbus laboratory on the International Space Station. Biolab is an experiment workstation tailored for research on biological samples such as micro-organisms, cells, tissue cultures, plants and small invertebrates. The unit features a centrifuge that creates simulated gravity to compare how samples react to weightlessness and artificial gravity. (Credit; NASA)

ESA PR
22 April 2014

It is a race against time for ESA’s Gravi-2 experiment following launch last Friday on the Dragon space ferry. Stowed in Dragon’s cargo are lentil seeds that will be nurtured into life on the International Space Station.

Gravi-2 continues the research of its predecessor into how sensitive plants are to gravity.

To find out, 768 lentil seeds will be subjected to different levels of simulated gravity. Spinning them in centrifuges at different speeds on the Space Station will recreate gravity, similar to how astronauts and fighter pilots are subjected to highg-forces in human centrifuges.

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TITUSVILLE, Fla. (Astronauts for Hire PR) – Astronauts for Hire is pleased to announce that it is a participating nonprofit organization in the Ticket to Rise campaign. Ticket to Rise is a 90-day fundraising initiative from the Urgency Network that gives anyone a chance to win a trip to space by donating to one of over 100 participating nonprofit organizations. A donation of $10 or more to a participating nonprofit […]

A Google Science Fair Galactic Hangout held earlier today from the production floor of the Spaceship Company in Mojave. Calif.  Participants included space design engineer Adam Wells, spaceship builder Joe Brennan, astronaut relations specialist Lauren De Niro Pipher, and rocket engineer Marissa Good.