This looks like it's going to be a tough team to beat:

ATK Launch Systems, Lockheed Martin Inc. and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne have formed Team Ares and said they will bid to develop the upper stage of the Ares I rocket.

On top of their loss of the CEV contract, and in the wake of Lockheed Martin's aggressive marketing of the Atlas V, this will be another blow to Boeing's human spaceflight business prospects if they can't win (or decide not to bid) the Ares upper stage. And this one can be chalked up to the fact that they decided they didn't want to own Rocketdyne any more. That decision to sell it to Pratt a couple years ago isn't looking so smart now.

Rand,
This is all really kind of ironic. A year ago, if you had asked me which of the "big boys" had their heads screwed on the straightest when it came to commercial spaceflight, I would have said Boeing hands down.

~Jon

Boeing may end up bidding on the instrumentation unit that for some strange reason is being bid separately from the rest of the vehicle.

Go figger

Dennis

Jon wrote:

> This is all really kind of ironic. A year ago,
> if you had asked me which of the "big boys" had
> their heads screwed on the straightest when it
> came to commercial spaceflight, I would have
> said Boeing hands down.

Well, Boeing does have by far the most experience with commercial spaceflight: owners of the Hughes line of commercial satellites; commercial launches of Delta II and IV and Sea Launch launch vehicles; commercial development of Delta III, Delta IV Medium, and Sea Launch; prime contractor for the SpaceHab modules; the first commercial astronaut (Charlie Walker).

But Ares is as far from a commercial venture as you can get.

Mike

Michael,
True enough. But the man-rated Atlas V work with Bigelow is pretty darned commercial, and Boeing doesn't appear to even be trying at the moment.

~Jon

Boeing's strategic business decisions have been abysmal. The purchase of Hughes satellites at the beginning of the com sat depression was so bad they formed an internal commission to figure out why they messed up so massively (source:AV WK).

As for Rocketdyne, Boeing has been trying to apply their commercial airplane experience to the undigested remains of Rockwell and MacDac since the beginning. They're idea of a successful aerospace business is one that bolts boxes together. Other people's boxes. So good bye Anaheim Autonetics, good bye Rocketdyne and good bye to a host of others.

Maybe they can find a Russian or Japanese engine manufacturer to team up with. Hey, it worked for Lockmart.

Jon wrote:

> True enough. But the man-rated Atlas V work
> with Bigelow is pretty darned commercial, and
> Boeing doesn't appear to even be trying at the
> moment.

That's true. And I wish Lockheed success in that endeavor.

Mike

Oops. That last post was mine, in case anyone can't tell.

Mike