SpaceX, United Launch Alliance and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin won billions of dollars in contracts to loft the Pentagon’s most-sensitive satellites over several years.
The national security launch awards, announced late on Friday, reflect the deepening ties Elon Musk’s rocket company has made with the US government and its strong challenge to longstanding incumbent ULA, a joint venture of Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. The awards also show an industry that’s rapidly evolving, with ULA winning certification last week of its new Vulcan rocket and Blue Origin finally reaching orbit with its New Glenn in January.
The US Space Systems Command said in a press release that SpaceX won contracts worth an anticipated $5.9 billion; United Launch Alliance was expected to receive $5.4 billion; and Blue Origin some $2.4 billion.
The awards mean that SpaceX is likely to fly 28 missions, or about 60% of the slate, and ULA about 19 missions or some 40%.
“A robust and resilient space launch architecture is the foundation of both our economic prosperity and our national security,” US Space Force Chief of Space Operations General Chance Saltzman said in a statement.
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These so-called Phase 3 Lane 2 awards are for more demanding spaceflight profiles. They are separate from a class of missions the Pentagon will assign to another group of launch providers, which includes SpaceX, ULA, Blue Origin, plus Rocket Lab and Stoke Space.
SpaceX didn’t respond to a request for comment on the awards, the outlines of which were first reported by Reuters.