The moon, and Mars (or not?)

jacob navia wrote in message ...

Delta and Atlas aren't spaceships. They aren't human transportation
vehicles. I was referring to manned space flight.

Delta IV and/or Atlas V could very well become people-
movers. One (or both) of them will very likely be used
to launch the new Crew Exploration Vehicle.

The shuttle crews are another thing, but the spaceships are
now (barely) maintained, no replacement for the old hardware
is in sight no new spaceships are being built.
Just promises of "the moon and beyond". Fact is, no new spaceships
are being built.

Don't grieve for the U.S. space program just yet. The
shuttle era will come to an end in a few more years,
but the orbiters still have work to do (and there are
more than enough orbiters and other resources to complete
the job). In the mean time, it is a stated (and funded)
goal of the U.S. Government "to develop and test a new
spacecraft, the Crew Exploration Vehicle, ... [which] will
be capable of ferrying astronauts and scientists to the
Space Station after the shuttle is retired. But the main
purpose of this spacecraft will be to carry astronauts
beyond our orbit to other worlds." This new project, which
will take longer than everyone wants it too and will overrun
its budget, etc, will nontheless set the stage for all
future U.S. human spaceflight efforts. They're not bending
metal yet, but preliminary design efforts are underway. I
am convinced that CEV, or something like it, will happen.

- Ed Kyle

Thomas Lee Elifritz wrote in message . ..

... Delta IV Medium is the first true spaceship,
... At $75 million a copy, and with nearly 20,000
lb. to LEO, it is literally a steal,

Last year, Boeing wrote off $835 million in losses on
the 24 contracted Delta IV launches it had with the
Air Force. It sold those Delta IV-M launches at
roughly $75 million, but the write-off, combined with
the U.S. Government's added extra funding of both EELV
programs, shows that a Delta IV-M is actually costing
Boeing well more than $100 million at today's pitiful
launch rates. Boeing has diverted commercial customers
to the cheaper Sea Launch Zenit. More Zenits have flown
this year than Delta IVs. (Some reports say that Boeing
is thinking about selling off its money-losing Delta IV
program.)

- Ed Kyle

September 22, 2004

ed kyle wrote:

Last year, Boeing wrote off $835 million in losses on
the 24 contracted Delta IV launches it had with the
Air Force. It sold those Delta IV-M launches at
roughly $75 million, but the write-off, combined with
the U.S. Government's added extra funding of both EELV
programs, shows that a Delta IV-M is actually costing
Boeing well more than $100 million at today's pitiful
launch rates.

Then somebody needs to relieve Boeing of this money losing asset, and start flying 18 flights a year to the Russian ISS
and that Chinese moon.

Boeing has diverted commercial customers
to the cheaper Sea Launch Zenit. More Zenits have flown
this year than Delta IVs. (Some reports say that Boeing
is thinking about selling off its money-losing Delta IV
program.)

There you have it, a ready made space entrepreneurship opportunity.

Thomas Lee Elifritz
http://elifritz.members.atlantic.net