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To: rktman

SpaceX has been certified recently to launch military payloads, and their Falcon Heavy is going to have its first launch this year. Blue Origin is working on a replacement engine for the Russian engines. Dragon 2.0 is making progress towards launching humans to the ISS. Americans are making steady progress to where we don’t need the Russian engines anymore.


5 posted on 05/29/2016 8:56:49 AM PDT by Vince Ferrer
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To: Vince Ferrer; rktman
As of last week, SpaceX still planned on a late-2016 launch for its Falcon Heavy, which will exceed the payload to orbit of all boosters ever made apart from the Saturn V. SpaceX already has a lower price per pound to orbit than anyone (including the Chinese), and the reusability of their Falcon 9 booster hasn't even become a regular occurrence yet. The supposed next-gen Russian engines, like the RD series, will be mere further refinements of Von Braun's V2 engines, captured at the end of WWII, they won't be able to touch SpaceX on cost. Blue Origin's upsized engine now in development will (like future SpaceX engines) be methane-burning, and reusable -- but they haven't shown an ability to match price per pound to orbit.

9 posted on 05/29/2016 10:47:07 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (I'll tell you what's wrong with society -- no one drinks from the skulls of their enemies anymore.)
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