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ULA has designed and is building the Vulkan rocket now. Presumably they have some staff that were involved with the Atlas V and Delta IV back when they were wit
by jccooper 6y ago
ULA has designed and is building the Vulkan rocket now. Presumably they have some staff that were involved with the Atlas V and Delta IV back when they were with their parent companies.
- valuearb 6y agoThat was 20 years ago, they’ve had lots of turnover since. So while they clearly retain some expertise, most appears to be in launch operations, not launch system design. Which is one reason they had to farm out engine design to Blue Origin. Treating the ULA bid as if it were lower risk than SpaceX appears to be contrary to the facts. The Falcon 9 has been flying for a decade, and has a very good safety record. The Vulkan is a paper rocket that is years from actual service using an unproven engine, being designed by an effectively new team.