Main Engine Cut Off

If the endgame here is to be used as the engines for the SLS advanced boosters, I would not be surprised in the slightest.

Throughout the troubled history of NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission, I’ve been miffed at the off-and-on relationship it has had with planetary defense.

We’re getting ever closer to a Rocket Lab launch. Keep your eyes peeled.

Tiangong-2 is set to launch today. It’s an important mission for the Chinese space program, so keep your eye on it.

There are some great details about Blue Origin’s future launch site—and some details about their stage recovery mechanisms—in the permit application for LC-11 and -36 work. The good details are hidden in the Drainage Analysis Technical Memorandum.

This is one way to spin a manifest with less demand (from government) than previous years. Nonetheless, it’s a good way to reach out to the commercial side of the market and let them know that ULA can support them, as well.

I’m not going to talk about Amos-6 specifically (or any fallout thereof) until the cause has been found and announced, but I do want to talk about the things that are said about SpaceX after an event like this.

In light of today’s announcement by Blue Origin, I’ve been thinking about their vehicle naming.

Today, Jeff Bezos gave us a nice preview of their next launch vehicle: New Glenn.

By the sounds of it, Blue Origin is late on something, and it may be pushing their engine test back a bit. I imagine that Aerojet Rocketdyne and the Congress members that are to thank for the AR1 are a little bit excited.