Boeing selects ULA's Atlas rocket for its cargo, crew flights (al.com)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Lee Roop, The Huntsville Times

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Boeing announced today it will pin its plans for commercial cargo and crew spaceflights to United Launch Alliance's Atlas rocket assembled in Decatur, Al.

Boeing is one of several commercial companies competing for NASA contracts to launch cargo and crew to the International Space Station. If NASA selects Boeing for a development contract with sufficient funding, the company said today, " ULA will provide launch services for an autonomous orbital flight, a transonic autonomous abort test launch, and a crewed launch, all in 2015."

Today's announcement was hardly a surprise, because ULA is a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin that assembles Atlas and Delta rockets at a sprawling facility in Decatur near the south bank of the Tennessee River. ULA employs about 700 people at the complex.

A ULA spokesman has said that any crew-carrying Atlas rockets would be assembled in Decatur and the agreement "absolutely" could lead to more jobs in Alabama.e
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http://blog.al.com/space-news/2011/08/boeing_selects_ulas_atlas_rock.html




Atlas rocket in line for human launches
By Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent, BBC News

When Nasa lands its Atlantis shuttle on Thursday, it will have no means of getting American astronauts into orbit. In the short-term it will rely on Russian Soyuz rockets and capsules, but eventually it hopes to buy transportation services from US commercial operators.

"With the shuttle landing here in a few days it does not mean the end of human spaceflight; it means that chapter is going to finish and we're going to pick up with a new chapter," said Ed Mango, Nasa's Commercial Crew Programme manager.

"And today, with our agreement with ULA, I believe we are taking some of those steps to continue on with that tradition of being leaders in human spaceflight."

The Atlas has been chosen as the rocket of choice by three private companies that are in the process of developing ships capable of ferrying crews to the International Space Station (ISS).
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Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), Blue Origin, and Boeing itself are receiving funds from Nasa to help them develop spacecraft that could transport up to seven astronauts to the ISS. All three companies would like to launch their vehicles on an Atlas 5. A fourth company in receipt of Nasa funds, SpaceX, would use its own rocket to launch a crewship.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14194716

[Igel]

1. Now if they'd just make the RD-180s in the US.

That would be great. All the documentation should be good to go and updated--we translated it something like 7 years ago--and they should have the site located and ready to be implemented by now.

I guess as soon as it's as cheap to make them in the US as it is to make them in Russia, taking into account delays and quality control problem, and then pay to ship them to the US they'll do precisely that.

[demguy72340]

6. +1

[sofa king]

2. Heh. And in the meantime, SpaceX delivers.

Their test launches have been so close to optimal, they've moved up their first visits to the ISS to late this year.

Boeing isn't going to like that.

[RT Atlanta]

4. Competition is good

We'll see how Boeing responds - and hopefully without cutting corners on safety matters.

[sofa king]

5. My guess is they'll respond with sabotage and lobbying.

Because Boeing doesn't have an actual something that can compete with SpaceX, just another plan on the books, while the other guys are busy launching.

So they'll do what they do best, which is to use their unfair advantages to game the system in their favor, to buy politicians and the OMB, and maybe even to sneak someone into SpaceX with something that will make the next launch a little less than perfect.

[pokerfan]

3. Boeing's CST-100 capsule

Day job just too darn terrestrial? Maybe you should score a gig at Boeing, which'll apparently sling two of its very own into space come 2015. What'll be their chariot? The company's CST-100 -- you know that spiffy capsule that can hurtle a lucky seven humans 100km into the dark abyss. Strapped to ULA's Atlas V, the crew will follow two unmanned missions, eventually reaching the International Space Station. If that all goes to plan, commercial service will start in 2016. Now about those extra five seats...

http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/07/boeings-cst-100-to-shoot-non-nasa-astronauts-into-space-by-2015