Reed Snellenberger wrote:

Although you have to read between the lines
slightly, it's pretty clear ... that Boeing
realizes that solids are a non-starter for
manned boosters due to their possible failure
modes.


The customer is always right, but is it a
consensus view at the customer (NASA) that
solids are a no-go? No-solids would shut
out Lockheed Martin's existing Atlas V
models after all.

- Ed Kyle