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A couple of years ago I went to a talk at HSGP (Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix) where the guy said in a politically correct way that the US space program has turned into a government welfare program for the corporations that build monster rockets. And while these monster rockers are really cool high tech toys, they are not cost effective at launching satellites into space. And as a result of that the American government is using cheaper, cost efficient Russian booster rockets to launch our satellites into space. I think that's the basis of this article. And yes, that's the same HSGP that I was throw off there Facebook page for I suspect posting "pro gun" and "pro Second Amendment" articles. Sadly a lot of the atheists in HSGP are gun grabbers. They also seem to be hypocrites who suppress free speech that doesn't agree with theirs.
John McCain, Richard Shelby battle over Russian-made rocket engines Mary Orndorff Troyan, Montgomery Advertiser 4:50 p.m. MST January 27, 2016 WASHINGTON – Congress would reinstate a ban on using Russian-made rocket engines to launch U.S. military satellites under legislation by Sen. John McCain that escalates an ongoing feud with Sen. Richard Shelby over space policy. McCain, R-Ariz., and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California will introduce a proposal Thursday to ban RD-180 Russian-made engines from powering rockets carrying Pentagon payloads, McCain said Wednesday. The proposal is a direct response to Shelby’s move late last year that lifted the original ban and allowed United Launch Alliance to continue buying the Russian engines until an U.S.-made alternative is available. United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing, has a 1.6-million-square-foot rocket factory in Decatur in north Alabama that employs about 800 people. McCain, who chaired a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the rocket engine controversy Wednesday, said buying more Russian engines benefits Russian President Vladimir Putin and his allies, and unfairly favors United Launch Alliance over other U.S. companies. “Yet despite the availability of alternatives, a select few still want to prolong our dependence on Russia while they target our satellites, occupy Crimea, destabilize Ukraine, bolster (Bashar al-) Assad in Syria, send weapons to Iran, and violate the 1987 Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty,” McCain said. Specifically, McCain accused Shelby of acting on “parochial motivations” in overturning the ban on Russian engines with a last-minute addition to a massive federal spending bill that passed in December. Shelby has said he supports phasing out the Russian engines over time. But, citing Air Force data, he says banning the engines now would endanger national security because the Pentagon would have no reliable way to launch assets until an alternative is provided. Responding to aggressive questioning by McCain at Wednesday’s hearing, Pentagon officials defended ULA’s purchase of more Russian engines because an alternative might not be ready until at least 2019. “We continue to believe that provision of 18 RD-180 engines will be sufficient to maintain a competitive environment,” said Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James. “The department is committed to transitioning off of the RD-180 as quickly as possible while minimizing impacts to national security.” McCain accused ULA of “manipulative extortion” by “artificially diminishing the stockpile of engines they purchased prior to the Russian invasion of Crimea” and ordering several more RD-180s immediately after the ban was lifted in December. In a December statement about the order, the company said that “while... now is the right time to move to an American engine solution for the future, it is also critical to ensure a smooth transition to that engine and to preserve healthy competition in the launch industry." The Russian engines have powered dozens of ULA's satellite launches of military hardware from Kennedy Space Center over the past decade, and ULA has held a monopoly on the launches for years. But the disputes with Moscow and the emergence of a second launch company, California-based SpaceX, prompted Congress to intervene. McCain lauded SpaceX’s work developing a reusable rocket engine and criticized the $800 million the Pentagon pays annually to help ULA maintain its launch systems. “How can anyone compete when the competition is paid $800 million just to stay in business?” McCain asked. Contact Mary Troyan at mtroyan@usatoday.com |