Main Engine Cut Off

Marco Langbroek, SatTrackCam Leiden, on the curious proximity of USA 276 to ISS on the days surrounding the berthing of SpaceX CRS-11.

There’s quite a bit of shuffling going on in Russia.

This info from Koenigsmann means one of two things: they can complete the work while continuing to fly missions from 39A, or they plan to push the work to the end of the year to give themselves some time with two east coast pads operational.

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Some comments from Maj. Gen. Roger Teague on Air Force funding as it pertains to the Vulcan engine downselect.

Overall, I’m quite disappointed at the missed opportunity XS-1 presented to widen the industry. It’ll take a lot to convince me that a Boeing project of this sort will ever be affordable. Boeing doesn’t have the best reputation for cost-efficiency when it comes to launch vehicles—Delta IV and SLS being the two most recent examples—and their last small launch DARPA project didn’t end well.

A four-year difference in arrival is a huge deal, for both the scientific timeline as well as the management of the program. This change cuts five years of fixed costs out of the budget. Hopefully that money can go to other parts of the mission to increase its capability or duration.

I love seeing the breadth of approaches being taken by small launch companies. Just about every entrant has a unique component to their architecture: Rocket Lab with their electric turbopumps, Virgin Orbit with air launch, Vector with mobile pad systems, to name a few.

They’ve stopped giving dates, but here are some dates.

Things people usually shout “Pork!” about are usually defensible in some way. The prime contractors for SLS are the same old insiders, the work is centralized in the same old districts, but the vehicle itself is still politically defensible as a unique capability the market does not (yet) provide.

But this situation is a pretty blatant, indefensible example of the North Alabama Space Agency.