Delta IVH - this can't make Seattle happy . . .

From SpaceFlightNow.com

"The Boeing Delta 4-Heavy rocket appears to have experienced
lower-than-expected performance during its initial ascent today,
forcing its upper stage engine to compensate and raising doubts about
the mission's chances for success, sources indicate.

While it's not yet clear what might have caused the three Common
Booster Core rockets to provide less total lift than anticipated or
even whether the problem involved the central CBC or the two
strap-ons. But the end result was the upper stage fired much longer
than expected, using up more super-cold rocket fuel than planned.

The upper stage has since fired a second time, reaching a
geosynchronous transfer orbit that was close to the projected
altitude. A final burn scheduled for 10:27 p.m. EST would boost the
stage and DemoSat dummy payload into the target orbit. However, if the
upper stage does not have enough fuel remaining to complete the
three-minute burn, the rocket will fall short of its intended orbit.

The purpose of this mission was testing the Delta 4-Heavy before the
Air Force begins launching national security payloads on the big
booster starting next summer.

We will post additional information as available."

Anyone close to the program want to venture a guess or offer informed
speculation?

--
Herb Schaltegger, B.S., J.D.
"Wow! This is like saying when engineers get involved, harmonic
oscillations tear apart bridges."
~Hop David
http://www.angryherb.net

Herb Schaltegger wrote:
From SpaceFlightNow.com
[description of possible Boeing Delta 4-Heavy failure]

titled: Delta IVH - this can't make Seattle happy . . .

Note: Seattle probably doesn't care much. Boeing's
headquarters is in Chicago. Boeing's Integrated Defense
Systems is HQ'd in St. Louis. The Delta IV work is
centered in Decatur, Alabama. They still assemble a few
airplanes, I hear, in the Seattle area, but fewer every
year.

- Ed Kyle

On Tue, 21 Dec 2004 20:25:35 -0600, Herb Schaltegger
wrote:

Anyone close to the program want to venture a guess or offer informed
speculation?

....It's typical for Gen-X Seattle products these days. Damn slackers.
Just enough effort to get to orbit, and then start goofing off :-P

OM

--

"No ******* ever won a war by dying for | http://www.io.com/~o_m
his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
poor dumb ******* die for his country." | Human O-Ring Society

- General George S. Patton, Jr

In article .com,
"Ed Kyle" wrote:

Note: Seattle probably doesn't care much. Boeing's
headquarters is in Chicago. Boeing's Integrated Defense
Systems is HQ'd in St. Louis. The Delta IV work is
centered in Decatur, Alabama. They still assemble a few
airplanes, I hear, in the Seattle area, but fewer every
year.

Picky, picky . . . It was Seattle back when I worked there . . . it
was Seattle when my favorite undergrad prof worked there . . . it was
Seattle in 1916/17 when Bill Boeing was building his company from
scratch . . . It was Seattle when McD in St. Louis adopted it's
ballyhooed TQMS program in the '90 which was widely speculated within
the industry to mean "Time to Quit and Move to Seattle" . . . I know
they moved corporate there a year or two ago for no apparent good, but
it'll always be Seattle to me, damn it! :-)

And I know where the Delta IV facility is; my best friend from SSF in
Huntsville transferred to Decatur in the mid-90's as they were
building the factory and the father of one my legal assistants just
took a job there and starts next month. :-p

--
Herb Schaltegger, B.S., J.D.
"Wow! This is like saying when engineers get involved, harmonic
oscillations tear apart bridges."
~Hop David
http://www.angryherb.net

Delta IV is pretty much a "red state" product, built in places like
Alabama, Mississippi, Colorado, etc.. Not to mention launched
from Florida. Some California parts though.

- Ed Kyle

On 21 Dec 2004 19:52:16 -0800, "Ed Kyle" wrote:

Note: Seattle probably doesn't care much. Boeing's
headquarters is in Chicago. Boeing's Integrated Defense
Systems is HQ'd in St. Louis. The Delta IV work is
centered in Decatur, Alabama. They still assemble a few
airplanes, I hear, in the Seattle area, but fewer every
year.

Only because Airbus is beating them in an already soft market, not
because they've moved assembly lines all that much. The 7E7
is being assembled here, although "Seattle" had to compete with
other areas before being chosen. The only line to close here recently
was the 757's, and that was because the model was discontinued.

Dale

On 21 Dec 2004 19:52:16 -0800, "Ed Kyle" wrote:

They still assemble a few airplanes, I hear, in the
Seattle area, but fewer every year.

Sorry about the second response, but this kinda bugged me.
If you fly in a Boeing commercial airliner (not including the 717-
a renamed McDonnell-Douglas plane), it was assembled in the
Seattle area. This is true now, and for the forseeable future- with
the 7E7/787 coming online.

Boeing's relocation of its corporate headquarters to Chicago
was a stab in the back to the city/region it owed so much to. And to
add injury to insult, our state had to give Boeing major tax concessions
just to keep the production lines here. Oh well, that's business, I suppose...

Sorry, Ed, but I guess you touched a raw nerve in me

Dale

Dale wrote:
Boeing's relocation of its corporate headquarters to Chicago
was a stab in the back to the city/region it owed so much to. And to
add injury to insult, our state had to give Boeing major tax concessions
just to keep the production lines here. Oh well, that's business, I suppose...

Sorry, Ed, but I guess you touched a raw nerve in me

On the flip side, Microsoft had been headquartered
officially in Delaware for a very long time (due to
the preferable tax and regulatory environment) but
fairly recently moved to Washington.

On Wed, 22 Dec 2004 08:38:26 -0600, "Christopher M. Jones"
wrote:

On the flip side, Microsoft had been headquartered
officially in Delaware for a very long time (due to
the preferable tax and regulatory environment) but
fairly recently moved to Washington.

I didn't know that. Thanks.

I passed the Gates' compound on a company Christmas
party cruise of Lake Washington a few days ago. It's
resplendently lit up with Christmas lights. I kept expecting
them all to suddenly go dark, due to a control system
crash

Dale

Sorry, Ed, but I guess you touched a raw nerve in me

That's OK. I understand. I suppose I have the same
issues.

I used to work for McDonnell Douglas at KSC, so it
bothers me when people think that Boeing is just Seattle
and commercial aircraft. As you know, it isn't. It is a far
flung, almost unmanagable operation that encompasses
the remnants of McDonnell, and Douglas, and North
American Aviation and Hughes. It seems to me that
Delta IV is more a McDonnell Douglas than a core Boeing
product. It also seems to me that Boeing did commercial
aircraft better when that was it's core product, that McDonnell
did fighters better, and that Douglas did missiles and rockets
better, etc.. The big new Boeing doesn't seem to be best at
much of anything these days. It is frustrating, because I think
that it could excel if it were run in the right way, by the right
people.

- Ed Kyle