At the Worst Possible Moment for Boeing, Airbus' Space Business Is Booming
Why bet on a maybe Boeing turnaround when Airbus has already, definitively turned the corner?
"The ULA Vulcan program has performed unsatisfactorily this past year." That was the headline from a House Armed Services Committee Subcommittee on Strategic Forces hearing on United Launch Alliance's (ULA) performance in space launch last week.
As Ars Technica reports, Major General Stephen G. Purdy, acting assistant secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration, took ULA, a joint venture between Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), to task for causing "delays to the launch of four national security missions." The space company has launched its new Vulcan rocket twice and finally won certification to fly national security missions in March after the Space Force generously overlooked the fact that, during the rocket's October 2024 certification flight, one of its engine nozzles fell off.
Image source: United Launch Alliance.
