Military to investigate decision to certify the Falcon Heavy rocket
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Summary
It has a spotless record, but it costs as much as three times the Falcon Heavy.) SpaceX has at least two other missions on its Falcon Heavy manifest before the AFSPC-52 launch, so the certification could have been conditional based on the success of those flights.The announcement of this evaluation comes just a week after California politicians complained to the Air Force about the handling of its procurement strategy for the next generation of rockets to launch government missions.Space News reported that Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) wrote to Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, arguing that the manner in which the Air Force chose future launch providers created an unfair playing field. SpaceX did not receive an award, likely because the Air Force already had a booster from the company that could meet all of its reference orbits—the Falcon Heavy.You must login or create an account to comment.Join the Ars Orbital Transmission mailing list to get weekly updates delivered to your inbox.
As said here by Eric Berger