Main Engine Cut Off

Starliner’s uncrewed test is now NET August, and Chris Gebhardt has a pretty brutal piece that’s definitely worth reading on it.

Fantastic article by Debra Werner, for SpaceNews, that explains the furor over today’s FCC spectrum auction.

Big news from the Air Force, with 3 launch contracts going to each provider for the 2021–22 timeframe.

It’ll be endlessly interesting to see how this turns out, but now is precisely the right time for SpaceX to protest an award like this. They’re fresh off their Category 3 certification from the NASA Launch Services Program, they’re on a hell of a roll, and ULA has had quite a few scrubs and some long delays of late.

Good to see them secure a launch site, but they’re still on the hunt for a polar-capaable site. Maybe SLC-3W at Vandenberg?

Props to Reuters for posting a full story with the update, rather than posting it as an update on the original story, or going full Bloomberg.

Read the entire article by Foust, and you’ll likely be struck with the same feelings I have: appreciation that NASA has to figure out how to make an exploration program out of what fits in the budget, and the utter disbelief that a piecemeal effort as disjointed and dysfunctional as this is something anyone can believe in.

I said this at the time, but I expected this news alongside either the BE-4 or Air Force selection announcements. Burying bad news with good news is always a solid plan, and I can’t imagine something has changed drastically in the last few weeks on the Vulcan front.

Just a few weeks back they announced the selection of ULA for a ViaSat-3 launch, and now they’ve firmed up what was an existing option for a Falcon Heavy launch in the 2020–2022 timeframe—the same timeframe as the ULA mission.