

SpaceX wins injunction to stop USAF buying Russian rocket engines - carbocation
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/01/us-spacex-unitedlaunchalliance-idUSKBN0DH2G420140501

======
TheBiv
Need a lawyer-ish person to help me with this:

So SpaceX has an open lawsuit against the US Government for the awarding of a
contract to a joint partnership between Lockheed/Boeing, and now SpaceX is
granted the legal ability for the courts to stop the Lockheed/Boeing
partnership from entering into any rocket-buying agreement with a Russian
company.

How can this injunction bar Lockheed/Boeing partnership from performing this
seemingly separate business transaction? (More to the point, I mean, a
separate business transaction that Lockheed/Boeing could 'claim' was unrelated
to the government award)

Does it have anything to do with the fact that Lockheed/Boeing created this
new company (Open Launch thing) which technically won the contract and
presumably is the entity making the purchase to this Russian company?

~~~
tcheard
The Atlas V rocket built by the United Launch Alliance (ULA), which was
scheduled to be the rocket to launch the majority of missions for this USAF
contract is build using Rocket Engines bought from NPO Energomash part of the
Russian Space Agency, specifically led by Dmitry Rogozin, the deputy prime
minister of Russia.

Obama issued an executive order sanctioning Dmitry Rogozin and any
organization he is involved with. Given that ULA were buying rocket engines
from an organization that Dmitry Rogozin is involved with, they would be
breaching the executive order by doing so.

Now this doesn't the contact has been stopped yet, as ULA have stated that
they already have a 2 year stock of the engines and the injunction doesn't
stop any sale pre-injunction. But if no other rulings come up as to why the
contract should be stopped, they will still need to figure out a way to
fulfill the launches that they do not have engine stock for.

~~~
geoka9
Rogozin tweeted a couple of days ago that US astronauts should go to space on
a trampoline. It's interesting that a deputy PM can be so unprofessional as to
say things like that in public, but that's modern Russian politics for you:
top level bureaucrats saying embarassing things purely for internal
consumption.

~~~
bluekeybox
Rogozin's twitter timeline is pretty much designed to provoke US
administration (he has Russian and English feeds, both equally ridiculous). It
isn't just for "internal consumption" anymore. It's Cold War 2.0, kids, at
least as Kremlin sees it. And Rogozin isn't some small potatoes in Russian
admin.

------
platz
The senate hearing was a nice watch
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_azyt1JhI0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_azyt1JhI0)

~~~
fuelfive
This is a very long video. What was nice in it? Can you give some highlights?

------
joshlegs
Move over Lockheed and Boeing. There's a new guy in town.

------
codezero
While I'm all for SpaceX advancing the industry, I'm curious what exactly was
illegal/wrong about the Lockheed/Boeing deal to buy rockets from Russia?

~~~
bluekeybox
Umm, have you been living under a rock during the past two months?

~~~
codezero
Nope.

------
jacquesm
earlier thread on this:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7679372](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7679372)

~~~
dang
Yes. Thanks.

------
funkyy
I like how they said that buying Russian rockets will ensure US to secure its
space program growth and future. Like buying Russian technology today when US
is putting more sanctions on them is what they call "secure". If you have
player building rockets of similar price point and giving jobs to US people
why anyone would go and buy foreign rockets anyway?

------
avelis
This is the video where Elon Musk challenges the government about the "block
buy"
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iukfjdsGsyk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iukfjdsGsyk)

------
NamTaf
Oh wow, this is huge and going to upset a lot of old players.

~~~
frankydp
Most large contracts are contested, regardless of the outcome. it has become
part of the scheduling in gov acquisitions it is so previlant.

